FedEx Looks to Deliver -- to Senators

Hollings offered the amendment "at the end of a process where the bill was about to be passed," recalled Rich Michalski, an International Association of Machinists executive who at the time was the union's lobbyist. "It was offered one day, when the Senate was about to adjourn, and passed the next." Despite lobbying by the IAM and others, a filibuster against the provision led by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D., Mass.), did not gain enough support, even from Democrats.

The bill then required House approval, which it achieved despite the opposition of Rep. James Oberstar (D., Minn), currently chairman of the House Transportation Committee. "They limited debate on the House side," Michalski says. "You couldn't offer amendments or motions to strike."

But Oberstar was not done. In 2007, he crafted language removing FedEx's Railway Labor Act classification as part of the FAA Reauthorization Bill of 2007. The bill passed the House, then died in the Senate. The current FAA bill is nearly identical to the 2007 bill, including the FedEx language: last month, it passed the House 277-136, largely along party lines.

In trading Monday, FedEx shares closed down $2.38 at $52.01, while UPS finished lower by $1.53 at $49.

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