Taking the Hill By Air and Ground

(The Washington Post)

FedEx Express started out as an airline, so, like other airlines, its labor rules are governed by the Railroad Labor Act, a law that prohibits any one group of locally organized employees from crippling the carrier.

UPS, in contrast, began as a trucking company, and for that reason its labor practices are governed by the less-restrictive National Labor Relations Act. More than 200,000 of UPS's 420,000 employees are represented by the Teamsters.

The amendment pending in the House would put FedEx Express truck drivers, maintenance workers and other employees under the same labor law as those working for UPS.

The delivery giants and organized labor have battled over the issue before. FedEx Express briefly lost its airline status in the mid-1990s, but a Republican-controlled Congress reinstated it after a bitter fight with some pro-labor Democrats, including Oberstar. Oberstar said he "vowed at the time" to change the law if Democrats ever took control of Congress. He said he was "offended by FedEx's powerhouse lobbying in 1996 protecting themselves against any future organizing activities."

Oberstar said he was never asked by UPS representatives to push for the change this year, which the UPS spokesman confirmed. "We're not behind that legislation," Berkley said. "It's not something we initiated."

But Teamsters officials worked hard for it, meeting with at least a dozen lawmakers and congressional staffers in May and June. "We kind of blitzed everybody at the last minute," said Fred McLuckie, the union's legislative director.

The union won, he added, largely because Democrats are now in charge. "I don't think this would have happened if there had been a Republican-controlled Congress," McLuckie said.

FedEx's Smith shares that view. "When the Congress changed hands, Jim Oberstar and labor said, 'We're going to overturn this,' " Smith said.

It is not clear how the amendment will do in the Senate, where, because of its narrow partisan split, a combination of Democrats and Republicans is generally needed to pass controversial provisions. Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the chamber's second-ranking Republican and the ranking minority member of the Commerce Committee's aviation subcommittee, called the FedEx amendment "a total non-starter."

"It will not go anywhere," Lott said. "I will throw my body on that mine."

The Teamsters' McLuckie acknowledged that the amendment will have a tough time in the Senate. "FedEx has flown a lot of miles with a lot of members over there," he said.

But no one doubts that overall, FedEx has faced a colder reception -- and UPS a much warmer one -- since the Democrats wrested control of Congress. And the switch "could have profound implications for the industry," said Kenneth P. Quinn, a partner with the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and a former Transportation Department counsel.

On the day in June that the Transportation Committee voted on the FedEx amendment, it also took up a resolution to honor UPS for its 100 years in business. The proceedings quickly turned into a UPS love feast, with lawmaker after lawmaker lauding the company for everything from its commitment to the environment to its good works in local communities.

Several talked about how proud they were to wear a brown UPS uniform when they helped deliver packages for a day -- a standard lobbying tactic for the company. Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Tex.) said he was impressed during his ride-along with a UPS driver that they were delivering packages in a hybrid truck. "In my opinion [UPS] is doing a great job to promote alternative fuels," he said.

"I, too, want to add my remarks to the brown bandwagon here," said Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.). "I recently got to wear the brown uniform and go on a truck . . . It was a great experience from the company that gives back to our community in St. Louis and the state."

Even Republican Rep. Bill Shuster waxed poetic about how UPS helps small businesses in his Pennsylvania district. "It wasn't until I put on the brown suit and delivered packages for four or five hours that you . . . find out that the UPS driver is part of all those businesses," he said.

Oberstar said it was a coincidence that UPS's 100-year resolution and was scheduled on the same day as the vote on the FedEx amendment. "When FedEx gets to 100 years, we'll do one for them," he said. "Maybe."