Pilots’ Union Loses Bid at Federal Express
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Federal Express pilots on Thursday overwhelmingly rejected affiliation with the Air Line Pilots Assn., but the union has challenged the results.
About 35%, or 709 of the 2,022 pilots, voted in favor of the union, which needed a majority to win.
The result was seen as a victory for Federal Express Chairman Fred Smith, who had campaigned hard against a union that he thought might damage management-labor relations. Smith sent videotaped messages and letters to the pilots’ homes and visited bases around the country in an effort to defeat the union drive.
If the result is upheld, it is another in a series of defeats for ALPA, a powerful union in the airline industry whose image has recently suffered. This year, ALPA lost a similar affiliation vote at America West, and it is involved in a faltering 8-month-old strike at Eastern Airlines. Its pilots also have tried and failed to buy the parent of United Airlines.
The Federal Express election grew out of the Memphis-based cargo airline’s acquisition of Los Angeles-based Tiger International, whose pilots were represented by ALPA. The returns suggest that a significant number of the 1,000 former Tiger pilots did not support the union.
“The vote tells us that both former Tiger pilots and premerger Federal Express pilots believe our formula is successful,” said T. Allan McArtor, Federal’s vice president for air operations.
ALPA said the vote was disappointing, and that it filed an objection Wednesday alleging that Federal Express management “engaged in improprieties” during the election. The union gave no details of the appeal.
McArtor said the union’s objections were unwarranted and the company wasn’t concerned about ALPA’s complaint.
The results of the election don’t take effect until the National Mediation Board rules on ALPA’s objections, a process that could take several months.
ALPA will continue to represent the ex-Tiger pilots at least until the election dispute is resolved, a spokesman for the National Mediation Board said.
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