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

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UPS and officials with the (IPA) said the deal woulr save the companyapproximately $90 million over three yearas and avoid the immediate idling on 300 The pact includes voluntarh early retirements, short- and long-term leaves of absences, job sharing and cuts to flighg pay guarantees. The deal comea as the global recessioj has sapped shipping and cut into profitsfor Atlanta-basefd UPS (NYSE: UPS). UPS reported in Apriol its first-quarter earnings fell about 56 percentto $401 UPS pilots had a deadlin e of June 2 to come up with a plan over the next threde years.
The new agreement is short of thatoriginak goal, but under a deal between UPS and the pilots no pilots will be furloughed throug April 1, 2010. The union also agreed to find additional Officials said they were confident additionakl savings wouldbe found. ”This is another examplse of UPS’s commitment to its employees andtheir families,” Bob Lekites, UPS Airlines president, said in a statement. “I t also shows how a company and its unionh can work together to achieve a mutuallybeneficiaol outcome.
We applaud our pilotes for making the voluntary commitments necessary to help us protecyt our business and UPS jobs in this uncertaib global economy and we thank the IPA for their leadership inthis process.” The concession are in line with $1 billion in wage frozen 401k contributions and concessions already made by UPS In May, UPS retired its fleety of 44 aging DC-8 freighters and the companyu said it has determined it has 300 more pilots than are currentl needed. In April, UPS approached the IPA to find ways to avoif furloughing300 pilots, or about 10 percenf or its 3,000 aviators.
"This is a remarkable Bob Miller, president of the IPA, said in a "First of all I'd like to thankm our pilots. None of this would have happene d ifthey hadn't steppesd up to volunteer from every seat and domicile. It showws tremendous solidarity and compassion for ourfelloe pilots. Second, I want to thank UPS. They didn'ty have to go down this road with us. We appreciate their openness to new ideaw and their willingness to work with us in finding analternatived solution.
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