A group of 4,500 FedEx pilots begin voting Feb. 25 on a new, one-year labor agreement between the Memphis-based company and the Air Line Pilots Association.

Leaders of the ALPA master executive council this week endorsed the tentative contract agreement, which includes across-the-board hourly pay rate increases, ups domestic and foreign per diem rates and makes a pensionable lump-sum payment for pilots.

Word of the endorsement Thursday by the master executive council provided the first details of what is in the contract proposal.

Balloting by the union pilots runs through March 23.

FedEx MEC chairman Capt. Scott Stratton said pending changes in federal regulations governing pilot flight time and rest periods were among factors that “called for a different type of agreement.”

The new FAA regulations will cause FedEx and other carriers to reset their own standards, making it an issue in future contract talks.

“In the end, we achieved an agreement which, if ratified by our pilots, will bring meaningful improvements in key areas while positioning us to resolve our remaining issues in the near future,” Stratton said in a written statement.