Relax, it’s FedEx …

FedEx pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) excoriated the company’s management for failing to deliver a new, comprehensive labor contract to its aircrew members. Notwithstanding federal mediation, negotiations between FedEx pilots and management have dragged fruitlessly on since May 2021.

FedEx pilot group ALPA chair Captain Chris Norman remarked: “FedEx was profitable before the pandemic, became historically profitable during the pandemic, and remains solidly profitable today. Now is the time for FedEx to significantly invest in the future success of our company with an industry-leading pilot contract that recognizes the vast contributions and sacrifices we made to the success of this corporation. We must be able to attract the best pilots needed to continue operating reliably in this challenging environment to deliver the world on time.”

For purpose of making their plight known to customers, shareholders, and the general public, FedEx pilots have engaged in a campaign of informational picketing and media buzz that culminated with a full-page advertisement in the 20 December Wall Street Journal. The pilots and their union have resolved to increase advertising and external outreach throughout 2023 in the hope of reaching an equitable agreement with the FedEx brass.   

Captain Norman added: “There is no complexity to this situation. The items that remain between the pilots and management are so few, they can fit onto a single sheet of paper. FedEx management needs to make a comprehensive proposal that respects its most vital employees and brings stability as FedEx fights to maintain its role as a global leader.”

Since 1971, FedEx pilots have labored to build an airline, route-structure, and brand so reliable, recognized, and iconic that its image and slogans absolutely, positively resonate in both business and popular culture. During the COVID madness, FedEx pilots helped keep the world’s economy from grinding to a halt, and delivered critical supplies and equipment around the wide world.

That FedEx pilots should seek fair recompense for crewing a cargo fleet of some 418 aircraft, the world’s largest, and delivering “The World on Time” is a truism FedEx management would do well to acknowledge—lest brown supplant purple, white, and orange in the collective consciousness of a world inclining ever more resolutely to online commerce and third-party delivery.

FMI: www.alpa.org