Bill makes it easier to unionise at FedEx

The US House of Representatives passed a bill that would make it easier for unions to organise FedEx workers.

The US House of Representatives passed a bill that would make it easier for unions to organise FedEx workers.

Supporters of the bill, including the Teamsters union and UPS, applauded the vote. But the bill faces a difficult climb in the Senate, where a similar House measure died in 2007.

The vote is the latest chapter in a battle over whether some 100,000 FedEx Express drivers and other employees should remain governed by the federal Railway Labor Act, written decades ago to limit strikes at railroads and airline companies. The Railway Labor Act requires companywide employee votes on labour representation.

The House bill would remove the drivers from the Railway Labor Act’s jurisdiction and put them under the authority of the National Labor Relations Act, which lets unions organise companies on a location-by-location basis.

UPS, which is unionised, is governed by the National Labor Relations Act. The reason is a quirk of history: FedEx was initially formed as an airline, Federal Express; UPS started as a trucking company, United Parcel Service. Today, both companies operate their own airlines and truck fleets.

UPS argues that the current law places it at a competitive disadvantage. FedEx spokesman Maury Lane called the bill a “legislative bailout” for “profit-laden UPS.”