UPS pilot corps says it'll back Teamsters

By Bruce Schreiner
Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Pilots who fly United Parcel Service planes will ground themselves in a show of solidarity if the Teamsters strike the giant package hauler, a pilots' union chief said.

Robert Miller, president of the Independent Pilots Association, said UPS management has reached a crossroads in its relationship with unions representing pilots and its legions of workers on the ground.

A crucial test will come as UPS tries to negotiate a new contract with the Teamsters, he said. The current five-year contract expires July 31, and the Teamsters already have voted to strike if an agreement is not reached by then.

"We will honor a picket line if they decide to strike," said Miller, a UPS captain. "My hope would be that they are able to work it out."

If talks fail, Miller said all 2,500 union pilots flying for UPS would stay off the job, giving up their salaries in support of the Teamsters. The pilots' union gave the same backing for Teamsters during a two-week strike in 1997 that cost the Atlanta-based freight company $750 million.

Mark Giuffre, a UPS spokesman in Louisville, the site of its main U.S. air hub, said the threat of a sympathy walkout by the pilots was premature.

"We're optimistic that we will be able to negotiate a contract with no disruption in service to our customers," Giuffre said. Giuffre said negotiators for UPS and the Teamsters have nearly completed supplemental agreements on noneconomic matters.

Teamsters spokesman Bret Caldwell said yesterday that a strike remained "an option of last resort" that no one wants.

The four weeks remaining for talks before the July 31 deadline is "a lifetime" in labor negotiations, Caldwell said, but if the talks falter, the support from the pilots sends a sobering message to the company.

"IPA support shows the company that they are not going to be able to operate around a strike," he said. "It's one thing to bring in scabs to drive trucks. It's another thing to try to find people to fly planes."

The Teamsters are seeking more new full-time jobs along with increased pay and pension benefits and improved healthcare coverage. The union represents about 230,000 UPS drivers, loaders, sorters and clerks.

The negotiations, scheduled to resume Monday in Washington, D.C., after breaking yesterday, are focusing on economic issues, both sides said.

Giuffre said UPS was confident of reaching an agreement that keeps its employees the industry's best-paid while giving UPS the "flexibility to provide customers with efficient and cost-effective service."

The pilots' union, based in Louisville, also is keeping tabs on negotiations between UPS and union mechanics. A tentative agreement was voted down earlier this year by the mechanics.

The pilots' union will begin contract discussions with UPS in October, nearly a year before the contract comes up for renewal.