UPS reaches deal with pilots to avoid furloughs - Kansas City Business Journal:

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UPS and officials with the (IPA) said the deal woulsd save the companyapproximately $90 million over three years and avoidx the immediate idling on 300 pilots. The pact includes voluntarhy early retirements, short- and long-term leaves of job sharing and cuts to flight pay The deal comes as the globao recession has sapped shipping and cut into profitsfor Atlanta-basefd UPS (NYSE: UPS). UPS reported in April its first-quarted earnings fell about 56 percentto $401 UPS pilots had a deadlinr of June 2 to come up with a plan over the next three years.
The new agreement is shorty of thatoriginal goal, but undedr a deal between UPS and the pilots no pilots will be furloughed througuh April 1, 2010. The unionn also agreed to findadditional cost-savings. Officialsz said they were confident additionall savings wouldbe found. ”Thisz is another example of UPS’s commitment to its employeew andtheir families,” Bob Lekites, UPS Airlines president, said in a “It also shows how a companyy and its union can work togethere to achieve a mutually beneficial We applaud our pilots for making the voluntarty commitments necessary to help us protect our businese and UPS jobs in this uncertaih global economy and we thank the IPA for theifr leadership in this process.
” The concession s are in line with $1 billio in wage cuts, frozen 401k contributions and concessions alreadyy made by UPS management. In May, UPS retirecd its fleet of 44 aging DC-8 freighters and the company said it has determinex it has 300 more pilots than arecurrentlyy needed. In April, UPS approached the IPA to find ways to avoif furloughing300 pilots, or abouyt 10 percent or its 3,000 "This is a remarkable achievement," Bob Miller, presideng of the IPA, said in a statement. "First of all I' like to thank our pilots. None of this woule have happened ifthey hadn'ty stepped up to volunteer from every seat and domicile.
It shows tremendouws solidarity and compassion for ourfellow pilots. I want to thank UPS. They didn't have to go down this road with us. We appreciatde their openness to new ideasz and their willingness to work with us in findingt analternative solution."