Ups Pilots Reject Company’s Final Offer

United Parcel Service’s pilots rejected the company’s contract offer Wednesday, but both sides agreed no strike would be called this year, sparing consumers major holiday delivery tie-ups.

The primary point of contention is salary. The company in its latest offer - which only 39 of the company’s roughly 2,000 pilots voted to accept - agreed to raise the pilots’ pay by 19.8 percent over five years.

Under the company’s offer, a UPS spokesman said, captains would be earning an average $202,000, co-pilots $132,000 and flight engineers $94,000 by 2002.

The union has asked for a 21 percent increase over five years.