FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX) and the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l, (ALPA) jointly requested assistance from the National Mediation Board (NMB) to expedite its ongoing pilot negotiations through its mediation services. The NMB is the U.S. governmental agency that oversees labor agreements for entities covered by the Railway Labor Act (RLA), such as airlines, railroads and express companies.
The current collective bargaining agreement between the company and its pilots became amendable on November 1, 2021, with the parties beginning negotiations six months prior. The parties have taken a focused approach to this round of bargaining and have reached agreement on 8 of the 12 contract sections opened, with only a handful of unresolved issues in the remaining open sections.
Under the RLA, the terms and conditions of the existing contract between the company and ALPA do not expire until the full multi-step RLA process is exhausted. In the meantime, the progression of negotiations into the mediation stage has no impact on company operations or its ability to provide highly reliable service to customers.
“We are optimistic that involvement of a federal mediator will assist the parties in expediting the negotiation process and, ultimately, resolving the few remaining issues,” said Don Dillman, Senior Vice President, Air Operations, FedEx Express. “At the end of the day, we all want FedEx to continue to be a great place to work and to be positioned for success in the years to come. Mediation is a path we have gone down before and a process that has proved useful. We are hopeful that expedited mediation allows us to conclude negotiations and to reach an agreement that is fair and reasonable to pilots, other FedEx employees, our customers, and our stakeholders.”
For more details on the NMB request, click here.