UPS, Pilots Cut Contract Deal

After more than three years of negotiations, UPS(UPS Quote) and its pilots union have struck a tentative agreement on a new contract.

The Independent Pilots Association, which represents roughly 2,500 pilots at the Atlanta-based shipping company, said the agreement would run through 2011. It must be ratified by union rank and file.

Neither side would release details, but the Associated Press, citing a person who had seen the the contract, reported that the deal included an hourly pay raise of 17.7% pay raise for top captains and higher health care premiums for all pilots.

The pilots' contract became amendable at the end of 2003, and federally mediated talks between both sides began in June 2004. Last December, the union said it would ask to be released from mediation so that the pilots could strike, but mediators never released the two sides from negotiations. ...