UPS pilots vote to authorize strike
The union for United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) said more than 99% of its members have voted to give the authority to call a strike to the union’s five-pilot executive board.
Of the 2,462 eligible crewmembers, 2,371 pilots participated in the strike vote, the Independent Pilots Association said in a press release Thursday. Of those who voted, 99% participated in favor of a strike.
“The next two weeks are our last best hope for a quiet resolution to this contract,” said IPA President Capt. Tom Nicholson in the news release.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that pilots at UPS gave union leaders preliminary approval to call a strike if contract talks that began more than two years ago fail to produce an agreement.
No work stoppage is looming, partly because two weeks of further negotiations are set to start Monday, the Journal said. Before a strike could occur, more than half of the 2,500 pilots flying UPS packages and other freight throughout the world also must reject the Atlanta company’s final contract proposal and give another go-ahead for a walkout to the IPA’s executive board.
New York Stock Exchange-listed shares of UPS closed Wednesday at $73.85, up $2.22, or 3.1%.
-Jenny Park; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5400; [email protected]
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
