Teamsters target FedEx workers, urge change in FAA authorization act
(The following story by R.G. Edmonson appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on April 29,2 010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Wednesday launched a multimedia blitz to push Congress to rescind a portion of a 1996 law that gives Fedex drivers the same status under labor law as the companys pilots.
Under the banner Fedex Drivers Arent Pilots, the Teamsters are using a Web site, video and advertising to convince Congress that Fedex drivers should be governed by the same labor law as UPS drivers and others in the package delivery industry, not as airline employees.
To do that, Congress will have to change a provision of the Federal Aviation Administration authorization act that classified Fedex as an airline. The status puts Fedex employees under the jurisdiction of the Railway Labor Act. The RLA has stricter organizing rules than the National Labor Relations Act, under which Teamsters organized UPS employees and other package delivery companies.
Teamsters President Jim Hoffa said that Fedex used its political influence to buy protection from the National Labor Relations Act.
According to the Teamsters, Fedex has 90,000 employees who never touch an airplane, but are treated as airline workers. UPS is the largest employer whose workers are represented by the Teamsters union. Fedex employees are largely non-union.
This is a simple issue of fairness, Hoffa said Its time to level the playing field and close the FedEx loophole.
