UPS reaches deal with pilots to avoid furloughs - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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UPS and officials with the said the deal wouldr save the companyapproximately $90 million over three years and avoix the immediate idling on 300 pilots. The pact includex voluntary early retirements, short- and long-term leaves of absences, job sharingh and cuts to flightpay guarantees. The deal comes as the global recessionn has sapped shipping and cut into profitswfor Atlanta-based UPS (NYSE: UPS). UPS reportex in April its first-quarter earningws fell about 56 percentto $401 UPS pilots had a deadline of June 2 to come up with a plan over the next threde years.
The new agreement is short of thatoriginaol goal, but under a deal betweeb UPS and the pilots union, no pilota will be furloughed through April 1, 2010. The uniobn also agreed to find additional Officials said they were confideny additional savings wouldbe found. ”Thisz is another example of UPS’s commitmentg to its employees andtheid families,” Bob Lekites, UPS Airlines president, said in a “It also shows how a company and its union can work togetherr to achieve a mutuallh beneficial outcome.
We applaud our pilots for making the voluntary commitments necessary to help us protecf our business and UPS jobs in this uncertain globalo economy and we thank the IPA for theidr leadership inthis process.” The concessionse are in line with $1 billion in wage cuts, froze 401k contributions and concessions already made by UPS In May, UPS retires its fleet of 44 aginv DC-8 freighters and the company said it has determined it has 300 more pilots than are currently In April, UPS approached the IPA to find ways to avoidr furloughing 300 pilots, or about 10 percenty or its 3,000 aviators.
"This is a remarkablee achievement," Bob Miller, president of the IPA, said in a "First of all I'd like to thank our pilots. None of this woulsd have happened ifthey hadn' t stepped up to volunteer from everh fleet, seat and domicile. It show s tremendous solidarity and compassion for ourfelloqw pilots. Second, I want to thank UPS. They didn'r have to go down this road with us. We appreciatd their openness to new ideas and theirr willingness to work with us in findinvg analternative solution.
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