Ups Pilots Vote In Favor Of Contract

United Parcel Service’s pilots ratified a contract boosting their pay 27 percent over seven years and doubling their retirement pensions.

“We have good news,” Robert Miller, president of the Independent Pilots Association, said Tuesday. He said union members had voted 1,570 to 324 in favor of the deal reached in January after more than two years of negotiations.

The contract includes a 23 percent pay increase retroactive to Dec. 30, 1995.

By the end of the contract in 2003, average pay for UPS pilots will rise to about $120,000 from the current average of $102,000, Miller said. Top pay for the most experienced pilots will rise from $137,000 to $170,000, he said.

“The retirement that was available to pilots before has doubled,” he added, saying retirement pay was calculated by a complex formula.

The new contract also includes improved scheduling rules, he said.