Airplane mechanics, UPS reach deal

Teamsters says tentative contract will raise pay 30 percent above current levels.     Teamster Local 2727 said it has reached a tentative agreement with UPS on a new five-year contract for about 1,300 aircraft mechanics and related employees.
    The union said the pact provides for an immediate 16 percent pay increase and retroactive pay for hours worked from Nov. 1, 2013, and 3 percent increases each year, resulting in a 30.7 percent increase in pay from current rates by the end of the contract.
    The tentative contract, which will have to be approved by members in a vote next month, also provides a health care package with no premiums and an increase in UPS’ pension contributions, the union said.
    The Teamsters said the agreement “sets a new bar for aircraft mechanics in the U.S. airline industry, with pay rates and benefits that surpass those at FedEx and all other major U.S.-based carriers. Upon ratification of the new contract, Local 2727 members will become the highest-paid aviation mechanics in the country by a wide margin.”
    In July UPS and the Teamsters, which represents about 11,000 UPS Freight employees, reached a tentative agreement for a new five-year master contract.
   UPS also said at that time that progress was continuing with the union on many of the local small package agreements and supplements, including a handshake agreement in June covering more than 100,000 Teamster-represented UPS employees located in the Central Conference, Southern Conference and Oregon/Idaho, among others.
   UPS could not be reached immediately for comment.