Mediators Set Recess on Talks Between UPS, Pilots

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

PS Inc. said Saturday that federal mediators recessed contract talks with its pilots union indefinitely, one day after the union sought a release from the three-year-old negotiations.

The National Mediation Board's action gives the two sides a chance to reevaluate their positions, UPS said in a statement.

The recess is the second this year, after a three-month break that began in June. The two sides began negotiations in October 2002. (Click here for previous coverage.)

The release requested by the Independent Pilots Association, which represents 2,700 UPS pilots, would have moved the union closer to a potential strike, Bloomberg reported.

Deliveries by air accounted for almost $7 billion, or about a third of UPS’ $20.8 billion in U.S. package revenue for the first nine months of this year, Bloomberg said.

Compensation and retirement benefits have been the major unresolved issues, and the IPA said Friday that the two sides were $40 million apart.

A union spokesman said the recess won't affect the mediation board's ability to consider the pilots' request for a release from negotiations, Bloomberg reported.

UPS is ranked No. 1 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.