As many of us already know, all of the employees of FedEx Express are covered by the Railway Labor Act. This Act was put in place to administer the labor laws covering employees and companies when railroads were “king of transportation.” When airlines were formed, they were put under the jurisdiction of the Railway Labor Act, with little change made to the antiquated document. This portrays a simplified version of the cards we have been dealt, but like it or not, we must play by those cards, as they represent the current law.

With being covered by the Railway Labor Act we are also subject to forming our union by “class and craft” which under current law casts a wide net of job duties and job titles into the group we must organize. The RLA also requires organizing a union on a nationwide basis for all those employees who are deemed to fall under this large umbrella of the class and craft of “Mechanics and Related Employees.” This adds up to a big task.

There has been much discussion and even more confusion on the reason behind the fact that truck mechanics, sort and belt mechanics, electricians, grounds maintenance, heating and A/C, cleaners, janitorial, fuelers, ASA’s, airline mechanics, IT folks, mobile techs, non-power and numerous other employees all fall into the same “class and craft” of mechanics and are all covered by the Railway Labor Act.

Why don’t our competitors’ employees at UPS fall under the same set of rules and law?

To fully answer this, we need to look at history to obtain the true meaning and reason.

In 1995 the term“Express Carrier” was deleted from the Interstate Commerce Act. The deletion of “Express Carrier” took place because the last “Express Carrier,” a company named, Railway Express Agency (REA) went out of existence in the mid 70’s and the term then became obsolete. So, in 1995, no company was recognized as an “Express Carrier,” no company fell within the scope of the term, therefore deletion of the term “Express Carrier” was deemed totally appropriate.

FedEx Express viewed this deletion of the term‘Express Carrier” as a threat to the company’s ability to hide and insulate us, the workforce, under the jurisdiction of the Railway Labor Act.

This fear of us not falling under the RLA stemmed from and was in response to an organizing attempt by another union. Putting the workers of FedEx Express under the RLA would limit our workforce to only forming a union on a nationwide basis and with numerous different employees involved. Our company sought from legislators what they called a “technical correction” to “fix” what had rightfully been done in 1995. Our company argued that “it” was an “Express Carrier” even though the last one had gone out of business prior to our company coming into existence.

In fact, from the inception of our company, FedEx was considered a “motor carrier” by the ICC. In addition, our company ignored the fact that true “Express Carriers” were actually directly related to railroads. I think we can all agree that our company is in no way related to a railway company.

After several unsuccessful attempts, FedEx used its influence in Congress in 1996 to have the FAA Reauthorization bill amended to restore the term“Express Carrier” back into the Railway Labor Act with FedEx being defined under the elusive term“Express Carrier.” The FedEx influence reportedly stemmed from acting as the personal air carrier for Congress, expenditure of millions in campaign contributions, and reportedly hiring nine Washington lobbying firms to the tune of over $1,100,000 in 1996 dollars. With this size of expenditures, it becomes quite clear that FedEx wanted to accomplish this, no matter what.

The only reason for reinserting “Express Carrier” back into the RLA was to provide a special benefit to FedEx. Since 1996, FedEx has limited its workforce’s opportunity to organize into a union by misclassifying them, so all of us at FedEx Express are governed by the RLA. Did you realize, that under the current law, FedEx Express truck drivers, sorters, and couriers fall under the RLA as well, even though they have nothing remotely to do with aircraft operations?

So what does this look down memory-lane mean? Our company FedEx Express effectively manipulated the system and the law to get a “special deal” that takes our rights of freedom of association away and limits our ability to form a union at FedEx Express.

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO FIX IT?
Since this 1996 manipulation of the system, there have been attempts to amend the RLA with a bill called “The Express Carrier Employee Protection Act.” This legislation would provide for RLA coverage of employees only if they are licensed airmen, licensed aircraft maintenance technicians, or licensed aircraft dispatchers, and only if they perform duties as such. The passage of this legislation would reduce the number of workers involved in the airline side of our campaign dramatically,making it a much easier road to victory. In fact, the passage of this legislation would reduce the number of airline workers to organize to around 2,600, not the current 5,000 +. The passage of this language is meant to help all of the FedEx workers and would also provide that all other employees shall be covered by the National Labor Relations Act. This would make it tremendously easier for all of us at FedEx Express who are not licensed airmen, AMTs or dispatchers to form our union with the Teamsters. We could actually organize station by station.We could form our union as individual units too, like ASA’s,Vehicle Techs, and GSE Techs. The passage of this legislation would make our quest for representation and a contract a more easily attainable reality. No company should be able to hide behind its status as an “Express Carrier” when a large portion of its workforce is not involved in air operations, just to prevent its employees from forming a union.

During markup of H.R. 2881, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2007, Rep. James Oberstar, Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, offered an amendment “The Express Carrier Employee Protection” provision. This amendment clearly states that those employees who are employed in the air operation are covered by the RLA, while those employed in the ground or trucking operation are covered by the NLRA. The amendment passed by an overwhelming margin of 51-18. The House of Representatives passed the FAA Bill with this amendment on September 20th 2007. Unfortunately, there was no similar language in the Senate version and no further action in the Senate on the FAA Bill.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?
We are all aware that a new administration and most importantly a new Congress has taken the reins. Even though many of us consider ourselves far removed from the hustle and bustle of Capitol Hill and many of us have little understanding of “how it all works” the inauguration to office of the “new administration and Congress” could help to serve all of us at FedEx Express very well.

With the aid of our Teamster brothers and sisters, we are being given a golden opportunity to reintroduce and pass the “Express Carrier Employee Protection Act.” Legislation to “right the wrong” of 1996 and regain our rights to associate and form our union properly under the appropriate set of laws jurisdiction. Railway Labor Act for licensed air employees and the National Labor Relations Act for all others.

This is why we have prepared this “Special Edition”Nuts & Bolts. To make sure you know the story.