FedEx hopeful of pilot deal soon
Package delivery company FedEx Corp. (FDX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is hopeful of a successful conclusion to talks with its pilots’ union after more than two years without a deal, a top executive said on Wednesday.
“We think we have put together a good package for the pilots,” corporate vice president for strategic financial planning and analysis James Hudson told Reuters on the sidelines of a transportation conference organized by investment bank Bear Stearns in New York.
“We are hopeful we will be able to reach an agreement that will be fair to the pilots, their families, our customers, our company and our shareholders,” he added.
FedEx and the union representing its 4,700 pilots are due to start federally mediated talks next week. Negotiations on a new contract began in March 2004.
Before Hudson arrived at the conference, more than a dozen union pilots in full uniform staged a protest outside Bear Stearns’ offices, bearing placards saying “FedEx has failed to deliver.”
Pilots’ union spokesman Wes Reed said the main sticking points for an agreement with FedEx focused on work rules, job security, retirement and health care.
“We have made significant concessions since the last round of talks in the fall,” Reed said. “We would now like to see FedEx meet us halfway.”
He added that if a deal is not forthcoming, the union would likely seek to be excused from the talks hosted by the National Mediation Board, a step that could lead to strike action.
FedEx has said its offer includes raising the average pilot’s salary to more than $200,000 per year from about $183,000.
FedEx’s main rival United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) also has been holding talks with its 2,700 pilots. Those negotiations have dragged on since October 2002.
UPS Chief Financial Officer Scott Davis said at the conference on Wednesday that the Federal Mediation Board has not announced a date for a fresh round of talks, after the federal mediator called a recess in December. At that time the mediator declined a request from the pilots to be excused from talks with UPS.
Like FedEx, UPS has repeatedly said that it has proposed a fair deal for its pilots.
