The Independent Pilots Association (IPA) and UPS Airlines have reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year labour contract for pilots, after four years of discussions.
UPS and IPA said the new agreement provides for improvements across all sections of the contract but added that specific details of the agreement will not be disclosed before the union presents the proposed contract to all UPS pilots.
The contract must be ratified by a majority of UPS’s 2,600 pilots. The vote by the pilots will be completed on August 31 and if ratified, the new contract will become effective from September.
“This tentative agreement has been unanimously approved and endorsed by both the IPA executive board and our negotiating committee. Over the next month we will present it to our members with an unqualified recommendation for ratification,” said IPA president Captain Robert Travis.
“This is an excellent offer and we are pleased to have reached this agreement,” said Brendan Canavan, UPS Airlines president.
“This contract rewards our crew members for their outstanding contributions and contains provisions that protect UPS’s ability to deliver competitive service to our global customers.”
The tentative agreement was signed yesterday by the IPA and UPS in the presence of Nicholas Geale, Chairman of the National Mediation Board (NMB).
The parties entered mediation in March 2014. Both Travis and Canavan said they “commend the NMB for its guidance and resources over the last 27 months and thank our mediator, Gerry McGuckin, for his oversight and efforts”.
While operations were continuing as normal during the discussions, the pilots had voted to authorise the union to call a strike if it felt it necessary.
Also, rival FedEx reached an agreement with its pilots shortly before the busy Christmas period.
