FedEx, UPS Battle Over Labor Organizing Rules

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_133/lobbying/46240-1.html

By Bennett Roth
Roll Call Staff
May 17, 2010, 12 a.m.

As they continue to wage a high-dollar and nasty lobbying campaign, archrivals FedEx and UPS are awaiting final delivery of legislation that will determine whether they must abide by the same union organizing rules.

The two giant transportation companies have been at loggerheads for years over federal rules that make it harder for FedEx drivers to organize and strike.

But in legislation reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, the House has inserted a provision that would place FedEx drivers under the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Act, as UPS drivers have been for decades.

Currently, FedEx is regulated by the Railway Labor Act, which was set up in 1926 to limit economically crippling strikes.

The Senate, however, refused to go along with the House on the labor provision when it approved its version of the FAA reauthorization in March. And now negotiators for the House and Senate must hash out whether that specific section will make it into the final version. The chambers have since approved an extension of the current FAA laws until July 3 to give lawmakers time to work out their differences.

In the meantime, the companies as well as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which supports putting FedEx drivers under the NLRA, are proceeding with their lobbying efforts, which are as intense as any seen on Capitol Hill.

FULL 2 page story at link.