NEW YORK -- United Parcel Service Inc. aircraft and utility workers voted to reject a new contract that would have raised their top hourly pay rate about 30 percent by 2004, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Tuesday.

Teamsters Local 2727, which represents workers at UPS's main U.S. air hub in Louisville, Kentucky, said 83 percent of 1,076 ballots rejected a tentative contract agreement reached in December, the paper reported.

Both sides said the contract vote is likely to have no impact on negotiations for a new national contract between UPS and the Teamsters union, which represents about 220,000 of the 371,000 UPS employees, the Journal reported.

A UPS spokesman said company officials and leaders of Local 2727 will resume contract talks on April 8 with assistance from a federal mediator, the Journal reported.