MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — FedEx and its pilots have started negotiations over new work rules, and both sides hope to avoid a nasty fight like the slugfest four years ago.
“Both sides right now understand that they have to live with each other. They realize also that a strike or a conflict will hurt them both,” said Gary Chaison, a professor of labor-management relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.
Four years ago, under the threat of strikes and replacement workers, FedEx and the Air Line Pilots Association settled the cargo airline’s first union contract for U.S. employees. Now, that contract can be amended.
It should help that this time negotiators are working on an existing contract.
The current contract took effect in 1999 after years of haggling between the pilots and a company that consistently has been averse to organized labor.
The squabbling reached a peak in December 1998 when the pilots threatened to strike during the Christmas shipping season, raising worries for FedEx customers.
The strike talk also stirred up hundreds of nonflying FedEx workers who rallied in Memphis to support the company.
The strike talk ended when FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith and other senior managers began preparing to lease planes and flight crews from other companies. Pilots agreed to keep working, and contract negotiations resumed.
Labor negotiations at FedEx are governed by the national Railway Labor Act, meaning that the current work agreement remains in effect until it is amended. Under federal law, the pilots’ contract can be amended as of May 31, and the new negotiations got under way late last month.
“We’re looking at basically a week of active negotiations every month through the end of the year,” said David Webb, chairman of union’s executive committee at FedEx.
Although the company’s 4,100 pilots want a pay raise, their first concern is “quality-of-life issues,” Mr. Webb said, “and specifically the kinds of schedules they’re being forced to fly.”
Most passenger airlines have faced serious financial trouble since the 2001 terror attacks, and some of the biggest companies are cutting payrolls and seeking major work concessions from employees. But FedEx Corp., the parent of FedEx Express, the world’s largest cargo airline, is making money.
“Under no circumstances will we negotiate any concessions in view of the extensive profits FedEx has made,” said Mr. Webb, who pilots some of the company’s biggest jets.
FedEx offered only general comments on the negotiations.
“What we’re looking for is a contract that’s fair for everyone — the pilots, the other employees, our customers and the shareholders,” spokeswoman Sandra Munoz said.
The pilots and the company already disagree on key matters likely to be at the heart of the talks.
The company says the average FedEx pilot makes $167,000 a year. Mr. Webb said that figure is too high, but he would not offer a pay estimate to counter the company’s calculation.
FedEx also says its fliers get more time off than federal rules require and the average pilot works 13 days a month. The union, meanwhile, contends the company often forces its pilots to put in as many hours as it can and gives them little say on flight schedules.
FedEx fliers work mostly at night, and with the company’s international business growing, some are handling longer, more tiring flights, Mr. Webb said.
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