Tag: FAA

Aging Air Traffic Control UPDATED

Posted on | by C. | Leave a Comment on Aging Air Traffic Control UPDATED

Thirty years ago today air traffic control was changed forever.

On August 3, 1981 nearly 13,000 of the 17,500 members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) walked off the job, hoping to disrupt the nation’s transportation system to the extent that the federal government would accede to its demands for higher wages, a shorter work week, and better retirement benefits.  At a press conference in the White House Rose Garden that same day, President Reagan responded with a stern ultimatum: The strikers were to return to work within 48 hours or face termination.  As federal employees the controllers were violating the no-strike clause of their employment contracts. Source: http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id296.htm

Fast forward to 2011 and we face a crisis. More than half of the replacement controllers are due to retire because of mandatory retirement rules. There is a mandatory retirement age of 56 for controllers who manage air traffic. And the minimum age (now) is 30. Do the math and all of the controllers they hired in 1981 were forced to retire by 2007. They made some exceptions and they replaced several controllers early, but the fact is we’re in desperate need of more air traffic controllers.

UPDATE
I find it a little ironic that this year the FAA ran out of money and furloughed 4,000 workers. Today the FAA got funding to re-open. They were loosing an estimated $30 million per day of airline ticket taxes.

Since authorization for FAA funding expired in late July, the agency has also been unable to collect federal taxes on airline tickets — leading to a revenue loss of approximately $30 million a day. If the dispute had continued until Congress returned in September, the federal government would have lost over $1 billion in revenue. Source: Senate passes bill ending partial FAA shutdown – CNN.com.

UPS vs FedEx (again)

Posted on | by C. | Leave a Comment on UPS vs FedEx (again)

UPDATE 9/24/2010: See Hutchison’s reply letter.

In 1997, the Teamsters strike crippled UPS. This time FedEx is using the buzzword “brown bailout”, and they’ve launched a massive (viral) campaign aimed at stopping legislation that would affect them. UPS has a counterstrike called “FedEx drivers aren’t pilots.”

It appears that UPS wants Congress to amend the Railway Labor Act (RLA) which limits unions from striking and crippling interstate commerce. FedEx thinks this will severely affect their business thereby giving UPS an edge – the bailout.

In contrast, National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) allows unions to form more easily. The Teamsters have used the NLRA to unionize the majority of UPS workers.

FedEx along with UPS and the Post Office (USPS) probably control 90 – 95% of package delivery in America. Both FedEx and UPS utilize airplanes to transport packages, and both use trucks to transport packages. FedEx is about 80% airline while UPS is about 20% airline. The USPS uses both of them; they are FedEx’s biggest customer. Needless to say, neither FedEx nor UPS are hurting for business. Looks like an oligopoly to me.

The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009 has already passed the House and is waiting for a vote in the Senate. A similar bill died in the Senate two years ago.

Like most things involving Congress there’s more to this bill and meets the eye. It was originally meant to improve the infrastructure of our aging air transportation and control systems, but then non-aviation groups (Teamsters) got involved.

It’s complicated for an outsider like me looking at this situation, but the yeas and nays will tell the story.

Supporters
United Postal Service
National Air Traffic Controllers Association
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
National Business Aviation Association
Air Line Pilots Association
Regional Airline Association
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
Airports Council International
Air Transport Association of America
Transport Workers Union of America
General Aviation Manufacturers Association
Rockwell Collins

Opponents
 FedEx

These two have been fighting for years. FedEx has always dominated the air – they are an airline – and UPS rules the ground. Every so often one will venture to closely to the other’s turf and a battle erupts. The fine line this time is airline personnel versus non-airline personnel. UPS (more so the Teamsters) wants non-airline personnel covered by the NLRA.

This time – if the bill passes – there will be a ripple effect in our (weak) economy. FedEx will probably lay people off (before they unionize and can’t be laid off ), and they will buy fewer airplanes. That equates to billions of dollars taken out of the US economy all because a union wants the right to strike.

Personally, I agree with the original RLA. I think if you are part of an oligopoly you should be subject to the RLA; neither UPS nor FedEx (nor the USPS) should have a union that can stop deliveries. On the other hand I don’t like unions because they hurt the many for the sake of the few. For example, the UAW, along with foreign competition and oil prises in the 1970’s, doomed auto makers and all of their ancillary businesses. American auto makers never really recovered, and America makes fewer quality cars today then any time since Ford rolled out the first Model-T.

Letters to Congress

What follows are letters that brownbailout.com will email on your behalf. It chose my representatives based on zip code.

Subject: Opposition to the “Brown Bailout”

Required text to House (Chet Edwards):

As one of your constituents, I’m writing to ask you to oppose legislation that could harm our nation’s express delivery system by increasing costs, lowering reliability and threatening jobs in the industry and all businesses that depend on overnight delivery.

Language inserted into the House version of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009, which passed in the House last May, will dramatically change how FedEx Express is regulated. The language favors only one company, UPS, and was designed to bail them out of a tough business situation.

Unlike the bailouts to shore up the nation’s financial system, paid for by tax dollars, this “Brown Bailout” will force us all to pay more in order to get less, while putting jobs at risk. This is not what our government should be doing to lower unemployment and put Americans back to work.

I also object to the secretive manner in which this bailout is being pushed through Congress without hearings or public debate on this particular issue. UPS, the only company that benefits, has been forcing its employees to write letters in support of the bailout, according to the Washington Post (“UPS Employees Say They Were Forced to Lobby against FedEx,” Aug. 7, 2009), and that just isn’t fair.

Businesses and individuals across America rely on an express delivery system that is dependable and affordable for medicines, equipment and other essential goods. Prices have never been lower, service has never been better, and access to global markets has never been greater. Congress should not put jobs at risk trying to fix something that isn’t broken.

The House of Representatives passed its version of the FAA Reauthorization bill last year. Please oppose the “Brown Bailout” if the FAA bill comes back to the House for a vote this year.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Required text to Senate (John Cornyn, Kay Bailey Hutchison):

As one of your constituents, I’m writing to ask you to oppose legislation that could harm our nation’s express delivery system by increasing costs, lowering reliability and threatening jobs in the industry and in all businesses that depend on overnight delivery.

While I support the FAA Reauthorization bill that will modernize our air traffic control system and bring much-needed funding for airport improvement projects across the country, it should not pass with an extraneous labor provision that puts one company’s interest ahead of public interest.

Language inserted into the House version of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009, which passed the House last May, would dramatically change how FedEx Express is regulated. The language favors only one company, UPS, at the expense of FedEx and its customers, and was designed to bail UPS out of a tough business situation. The Senate version of the bill, which passed 93-0, does not include this provision.

Unlike the bailouts to shore up the nation’s financial system, this “Brown Bailout” will force us all to pay more in order to get less, while putting jobs at risk. The government should be doing exactly the opposite to help lower unemployment and put Americans back to work.

Businesses and individuals across America rely on an express delivery system that is dependable and affordable for medicines, equipment and other essential goods. Prices have never been lower, service has never been better, and access to global markets has never been greater. Congress should not put jobs at risk trying to fix something that isn’t broken.

The current competitive environment is good for our economy. Please preserve our competitive shipping industry by rejecting the House version of the FAA bill when it comes up for a vote in the Senate. Instead, pass a final bill without this anti-competitive bailout.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Hutchison’s Reply

Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting me regarding FedEx Corp.’s labor regulations. I welcome your thoughts and comments.

When the Railway Labor Act (RLA) was originally enacted in 1926, “express companies” such as the Federal Express airline were considered a vital part of the nation’s transportation system, and their employees were included in the bill’s coverage. The RLA was amended in 1936 to include all air carriers. Federal Express later expanded its operations to integrate a full service cargo operation, and is now known as FedEx Express. Only FedEx Express, the highly integrated air and ground operations that began as “Federal Express,” is subject to the RLA. The other ground-based FedEx Corp. subsidiaries, including FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight, are covered by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). A provision was included in the house-passed version of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization bill to require FedEx to be fully governed by the NLRA rather than the Railway Labor Act

The Railway Labor Act was designed to prevent strikes from disrupting transportation services. Unlike other industries where the right of employees to strike is guaranteed by statute, uninterrupted services provided by air and rail carriers are essential to the health and the economy of the nation. For that reason, the RLA includes a highly regulated collective bargaining process with numerous safeguards that must be exhausted before a strike can legally occur.

Collective bargaining agreements do not expire under the RLA, but instead become amendable and continue in effect while bargaining is underway. The parties must engage in direct negotiations, followed by mediation conducted by the National Mediation Board. If no agreement can be reached, the Board gives the parties the opportunity to resolve the dispute through arbitration, and, if arbitration is rejected, a 30-day cooling off period begins. At the conclusion of the 30-day cooling off period, the President is authorized, when an important interest is at stake, to create an Emergency Board to consider the dispute and recommend an appropriate resolution. Only if all of these procedures fail to produce an agreement are options such as strikes and lock-outs available to the parties.

Proponents of the House FAA Reauthorization language contend the NLRA would better serve FedEx Express employees by providing greater opportunity to organize, engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in support of their demands. However, FedEx Express contends that if it were subject to the NLRA process, multiple unions would be able to represent different groups of workers by location and by function, even in the same cities. FedEx would be required to navigate multiple sets of rules trying to connect its local truck drivers to its aviation operation, potentially disrupting airline operations in the very way the RLA seeks to avoid.

As Conferencing of the House and Senate passed FAA Reauthorization bills moves forward, I will keep your views on this issue in mind. I appreciate hearing from you, and I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me on any issue that is important to you.

Sincerely,
Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senator

284 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5922 (tel)
202-224-0776 (fax)
http://hutchison.senate.gov

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY to this message as this mailbox is only for the delivery of outbound messages, and is not monitored for replies. Due to the volume of mail Senator Hutchison receives, she requests that all email messages be sent through the contact form found on her website at http://hutchison.senate.gov/contact.cfm .

If you would like more information about issues pending before the Senate, please visit the Senator’s website at http://hutchison.senate.gov . You will find articles, floor statements, and press releases, along with her weekly column and monthly television show on current events. You can also sign up to receive Senator Hutchison’s weekly e-newsletter.

Thank you.