"When a Company Does Well, its Pilots Do Well Too" - October 18, 2006

Its a proven fact: when a company and its unionized workforce conduct negotiations as equals, the resulting, mutually acceptable contract works to both sides benefit.  The company gets the stability and predictability of a labor contract just like a sales contract with a vendor provides.  The workers get the wages and benefits that recognize their hard work and contribution to the success of the company and this encourages even greater productivity and hard work.

That's the lesson of the most recent contract reached between FedEx Express and the FedEx pilots in ALPA .  The contract secures 9% raise for the first year with 3% raises in the following years, pension contributions for retiree pilots and a signing bonus among plus job rule conditions.

The pilots union at FedEx is getting their fair share of a growing pie.  Yet the company denies its other workers - the drivers, the sorters, the CSAs, the mechanics - the right to even vote for a union. Are these workers' contribution any less important than the pilots?  Of course not.