FedEx, Pilots Reach Agreement

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Federal Express Corp. and the Fedex Pilots Association reached a tentative agreement on their first-ever contract.

he union's board of directors unanimously approved the contract and now will review it for seven days before sending it to pilots for a vote that is expected to take a month.

We are pleased to have been able to hammer out the final details," Capt. Frank Fato, the FPA president, said in a statement today. "We have been working around the clock with the company to

evelop what we hope will be the first contract for the FedEx professional pilot force."

he agreement reached Thursday calls for the company's 3,500 pilots to receive a 17 percent pay raise over five years. That was the same offer the company had on the table when negotiations broke off in October. The pilots had been seeking a 24 percent raise over

our years.

heodore Weise, FedEx president of chief executive, said the raise "places FedEx pilots in the upper echelon of the airline industry."

edEx previously has said its pilots make an average of $142,000 a year, though the union said that number is inflated.

While the pay hike was not as much as union negotiators wanted, Mr. Fato said the pilots gained concessions from the company in other areas, most notably scheduling. "That was the key," he said, declining to provide details.

Outside of the pay raise, no specifics of the contract were released. Union officials said they wanted pilots to review the agreement before discussing it in detail.

or the contract to be ratified, it must be approved by a majority of the rank and file who choose to take part in the vote.

If it is, it will become the first collective bargaining contract for the union and for any U.S. employees of FedEx.