(The following appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on May 25, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar took a sharp swipe at FedEx chief Frederick Smith in an interview predicting Congress will pass a long-delayed Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization by this summer, according to a published report.
The Minnesota Democrat said the chairman, president and CEO of FedEx had “bought his way” into having FedEx Express workers covered under a separate labor law from the one covering rival UPS, according to an interview with Congress Daily.
What Oberstar himself called “harsh” comments suggested he will fight hard to retain provisions in the multi-year FAA bill that would shift the express drivers to legal status under the National Labor Relations Act, making it easier for labor unions to organize the non-union company.
Smith has said the provision pitting UPS and FedEx, the two largest transportation operators in the Untied States, against each other in a fierce lobbying battle is delaying formal efforts to work out differences between the House version of the FAA bill and the Senate version, which does not include the FedEx labor measure.
“There is no delay,” Oberstar told Congress Daily. “Don’t buy the Fred Smith garbage.”
Oberstar conceded he was “being a little harsh” in criticizing the FedEx efforts in 1996 that ensured FedEx Express would remain regulated under the Railway Labor Act. “But he’s been a little harsh on me. “He worked his way around the Senate (in the 1990s) very effectively, and the Clinton White House as well.”
A FedEx spokesman issued a statement calling on Oberstar to hold a public hearing on the labor issue.