Washington: Senator Bob Corker, who represents FedEx's home state of Tennessee, said he will block legislation funding the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) because a provision may be added later making it easier for workers at the company to join unions.
Corker's action extends a years-long fight in Washington between the mostly non-union FedEx and its unionised rival United Parcel Service (UPS) over how workers at both companies should be treated under US labour 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 on Friday in an emailed statement.
A version of the $53.5 billion (Dh196.34 billion) FAA measure passed by the House last year would place the FedEx workers under the same federal labour law that covers UPS employees represented by the Teamsters union.
Voting locally
That law lets workers vote locally to join unions rather than being forced to conduct a national union election.
While the measure awaiting Senate action doesn't include the labour language, FedEx and Corker want to be sure the provision doesn't make it into an eventual reconciliation of the House and Senate bills.
Senate leaders usually seek to reach an accord with a senator putting a hold on a bill.
Lawmakers can overcome objections from individual lawmakers with 60 votes, though that process can take several days.
The power of a single member to block legislation in the Senate was demonstrated most recently by Senator Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican, who held up action on a $10 billion bill extending unemployment benefits from February 25 until March 2.
Once Bunning agreed to permit a vote, the bill passed 78 to 19 and was signed by the president.
FedEx is the world's largest cargo airline while UPS is the world's largest package-delivery company.
UPS said the House-passed provision would even the playing field for UPS's union workforce. The company is the biggest employer of Teamsters, with about 240,000 workers. The Teamsters have been trying to organise FedEx ground workers for years. "UPS clearly wants the FAA bill to move forward in the Senate and thinks it's unreasonable to be held up for reasons that aren't even in the Senate bill," said Malcolm Berkley, a UPS spokesman.
The House bill's labour provision "removes special treatment currently provided to FedEx under the current application of the law," he said.
FedEx said the union provision would raise its costs, amounting to a bailout of competitor UPS by Congress. Pilots, who belong to the Air Line Pilots Association, are the only major worker group represented by a union among FedEx's 290,000 employees and contractors.
"The House version of this legislation contains a UPS bailout provision that clearly favours one competitor at the expense of another," said Maury Lane, a FedEx spokesman.
