Sen Corker (R-TN) & Alexander Place Hold On Aviation Funding Bill 2Prevent FedEx Drivers From Unionizing @corydig

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)

Last year, the House of Representatives passed a bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration and devoting $70 billion to airport infrastructure through 2012. The bill also changed an inequity in labor law which has allowed FedEx to operate under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), while other shipping companies like UPS are governed by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

The RLA poses larger barriers to organizing than the NLRA, which has enabled FedEx to prevent its drivers from collectively bargaining. So the company has invested a lot of time and effort into blocking the change, including characterizing it as a "bailout" for UPS.

And FedEx has an ally in Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), who is preventing the FAA reauthorization from moving in the Senate, until he receives assurance that the change in labor law won't occur:

Corker's action extends a years-long fight in Washington between the mostly non-union FedEx and its unionized rival United Parcel Service Inc. over how workers at both companies should be treated under U.S. labor laws. "We are supportive of the Senate FAA bill, but we have placed a hold until we can be assured that the controversial FedEx provision will not be included in the final legislation," Laura Lefler Herzog, a spokeswoman for Corker, a Republican, said today in an e-mailed statement.

rest at http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/08/corker-faa-hold/