FedEx says some deliveries may be curtailed

Web posted November 13, 1998

By Woody Baird
Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Federal Express Corp. on Thursday considered temporary cutbacks in next-day deliveries and some other services if the company's pilots strike over the busy holidays.

FedEx spokesman Shirlee Clark said the cargo airline will continue overnight, two-day and three-day deliveries, even if there is a strike, but overnight service to some parts of the country could be cutback.

``In the overnight service, we have not identified where they will be and the times, commitments, that sort of thing,'' Clark said.

FedEx and the Fedex Pilots Association have been arguing over a work contract since July, and the union is seeking authority from its members to call a strike, if necessary.

Federal Express, the world's largest cargo airline, vows to keep package deliveries moving no matter what its 3,500 pilots do, but the company is telling customers some services may be trimmed.

An advisory on the company's web page (fedex.com) says International Priority deliveries ``will be extended by a day,'' and Saturday and Sunday pickups and delivery will be curtailed.

Areas for continued overnight deliveries, which rely heavily on air travel, have not been decided, the company said.

Meanwhile, United Parcel Service, which lost business to FedEx and other competitors during a 15-day Teamsters strike in August 1997, began courting FedEx customers worried about a possible strike.

``If shippers come to UPS early enough, the company has various ways of handling additional volume by taking advantage of the largest air and ground distribution infrastructure in the world,'' UPS said in a statement.

Since its inception in 1973, Federal Express has prided itself on having happy workers who don't need or want labor unions. But that tranquility has been shattered.

Though the pilots and FedEx agree a strike is far from certain, the union will count strike-authorization ballots from its members the first week in December. The pilots already are refusing overtime work.

The pilots are the company's only domestic workers represented by a union, and FedEx has long fought to keep organized labor out of its affairs.

``(FedEx) has been proud its employees didn't feel the need to seek a union. We all know how we feel when our pride is kind of burst,'' said Coy Jones, a business professor at the University of Memphis. ``Whether they're anti-union or not, they've lost one of their points of pride.''

The FPA says FedEx management would hurt the company by following up on announced plans to shift more packages to ground transportation and contract aircraft.

``The mantra from the company has always been that it would be impossible for FedEx to exist as FedEx using independent contractors,'' union spokesman Bob Clement said. ``They could not maintain the reliability and on-time performance.''

FedEx spokesman Greg Rossiter said the company has no choice but to prepare for a possible strike and that means contracting now for holiday help from other air and truck carriers.

Contract planes and crews will begin carrying FedEx freight right away, Rossiter said, and could take over some air routes now flown by company planes, whether there is a strike or not.

FedEx says its pilots make an average of $142,000 a year, though the union contends that figure is inflated with overtime pay.

The company has offered the pilots a 17-percent raise over five years. The union wants 5 percent retroactive to a negotiated date and 19 percent more over four years.

Pilots also are worried about job security and retirement.