RSS Feed MenuOne of the grimmer jokes of the Democratic Congress has been the long pretense that the Senate wants to pass a card check law to help unions organize workplaces.
“Of course we all fiercely want to … but if we encounter even the slightest glitch or difficulty of course we’ll have to give the thing up as impossible … even though we all fiercely want to.”
That glitch showed up today. Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter announced he would not vote for cloture on card check, reversing his previous declared support for the measure. The Democrats reacted like a professional wrestler hit by a stage-directed punch. “That’s it, we’re beat, it’s all hopeless, fight’s over, we’ll just fall down right here.” Thump.
But that’s not to say that the union cause lacks all support on Capitol Hill. Not at all! Right now the full House is considering legislation that would help the Teamsters unionize FedEx. As is, federal law considers FedEx an airline. As such, its labor relations are overseen by the Railway Labor Board, whose rules are tougher on unionization. FedEx is non-union. Rival UPS, by contrast, is considered a trucking company. It is therefore overseen by the National Labor Relations Board – and it is unionized. UPS and the Teamsters have joined to lobby in favor of the change in FedEx’s status. Tuesday, FedEx fired back, threatening to cancel a big order for up to 30 Boeing 777 jets if Congress approves the change.
Call it a hostage-taking situation. Congress threatens to kneecap FedEx on behalf of UPS? OK – FedEx will punish every constituency in which Boeings are built.
A friend who knows Congress well describes the place as a brokerage house, a place where favors are bought and sold. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say … leased. The lease on FedEx’s favor is expiring, and the company and Congress are fiercely negotiating over the price of renewal, with UPS and Boeing lurking in the wings with offers of their own. It’s an ugly, tainted business. So tell me again why we are proposing to hand these characters a whole lot more authority over the daily workings of the US economy?
joemarier // Mar 25, 2009 at 5:23 am
That’s an excellent point about EFCA, which, after all, is basically a model maximalist law. There was and is a big to-do in the Catholic world about the Freedom of Choice Act. The hubbub does the job of getting all Catholics united and sending postcards, but the cost that is that liberal Catholics can always say, “See! FOCA hasn’t even been introduced! You’re scaremongering!” Problem is, there’s always stuff going on behind the scenes…
EvanSparks // Mar 25, 2009 at 9:48 pm
“FedEx is non-union” is not accurate. Its pilots are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association.
bbb // Mar 28, 2009 at 6:54 am
Isn’t this a bridge to far? Why are we involved in picking economic winners and losers? This isn’t Conservative.