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About 50 pilots who fly for DHL showed up outside UPS' Sandy Springs headquarters Thursday to protest a proposed air cargo deal between the two large shippers.



The pilots marched outside UPS holding bright red placards that read: "UPS/DHL destroying 10,000 American jobs." Overhead, a yellow biplane flew a banner blasting the deal, while a billboard truck on the street declared: "UPS: delivering pink slips."



The pilots, part of the Air Line Pilots Association union, fly for ASTAR, a carrier that almost exclusively carries cargo for DHL, has proposed paying $1 billion annually to UPS to fly its cargo into and across North America¨



But for ASTAR and ABX, another DHL contractor, about 1,150 pilots would lose their jobs, plus about 8,000 other Ohio workers. Ohio's congress members have got the White House to appoint Karl Zinsmeister, President Bush's chief domestic policy adviser, to monitor the deal. The ALPA pilots have claimed the deal could violate antitrust laws.