Ups Pilots Likely To Reject Contract

United Parcel Service officials conceded Friday that its 2,000 union pilots voting on a proposed five-year contract will likely reject the deal.

Ballots will be counted next week and results are to be announced Wednesday, but the Independent Pilots Association can’t strike during the busy holiday shipping season because of a timetable issued by federal mediators for further talks.

“While we’d like to think our pilots will accept this offer, it is very possible that they will not,” UPS spokesman Ken Shapero said during news teleconference.

On the heels of a 15-day strike against the company by the Teamsters, the pilots union agreed Aug. 24 to submit the UPS offer to its members without a recommendation.