FedEx says it is target of UPS, Teamsters lobbying

FedEx says it is target of UPS, Teamsters lobbying    UPS said it has reached an agreement with the union representing its pilots, as Federal Express accused the parcel carrier of “working hand-in-hand with the Teamsters” to change the status of FedEx workers “to gain a competitive advantage that they have been unable to gain through their service performance.”
   UPS said it reached a deal with the Independent Pilots Association (IPA) that would avert the immediate furlough of 300 UPS pilots. They agreed on cost-cutting targets totaling $131 million over the next three years and, using a variety of voluntary steps, identified about $90 million in savings pending final calculations.
   “Although the full three-year goal was not reached by last week's original June 2, 2009, deadline, UPS and the union have agreed there will be no furloughs through April 1, 2010, and that the IPA will continue to work this year to produce additional savings,” said UPS in a statement, adding that “voluntary pilot savings generated later this year could eliminate the proposed layoffs entirely.
   Meanwhile, in a statement posted on its Web site, FedEx said it has been for several months “the target of an extensive lobbying campaign by UPS and the Teamsters to have Congress pass legislation that would change our status under the Railway Labor Act (RLA). This campaign resulted in language being inserted into the House version of the FAA Reauthorization Bill that would alter the status of most FedEx Express employees. That provision is not in the Senate version of the bill at this time.”
   Legislation in the House would switch FedEx to the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Act where workers can organize and bargain at single locations rather than on a company-wide basis.
   “This is a vital issue for the future of FedEx Express,” FedEx said. “RLA jurisdiction gives us the best opportunity to deliver reliable, uninterrupted service to customers. It is that superior service that has allowed us to grow in spite of the best efforts of a larger, more profitable competitor — UPS.”
   FedEx said while the RLA was originally passed by U.S. Congress in 1926 to govern railroad labor negotiations, it was expanded to cover airlines and express carriers. And as an air express carrier with a combined air/ground network, FedEx said it has been correctly covered under the Railway Labor Act since its founding 1971.
   “The purpose of the RLA — then and now — is to offer employees a process by which to unionize if they choose and engage in collective bargaining while also protecting national (now global) commerce from damaging work stoppages and delays,” FedEx said. “Specifically, the RLA ensures that an entire transportation system, like FedEx Express, cannot be shut down by the actions of a local segment of the network.”
   Removing FedEx Express from RLA jurisdiction “could expose our customers to the type of service disruptions that the RLA was designed to prevent — local work stoppages in key areas that interrupt the timely flow of shipments of vital, time-sensitive, high-value goods throughout our global network.”
   FedEx accused UPS of being “desperate to close the service gap with FedEx Express, and the Teamsters are desperate for new dues-paying members to pay for their sagging pension funds and expensive political agendas.”
   FedEx said in its latest B-777 contract with Boeing, a provision was included that cancels 15 orders if FedEx Express or any of its employees is removed from the jurisdiction of the RLA. “This provision was included in the contract as a prudent precaution against a possible major change in the circumstances of our business,” FedEx said. ' Chris Dupin