Why hobble FedEx success?

United Parcel Service has been lobbying Congress for a change in federal law that former Eastern Iowa Airport Director Dan Mann has described as “senseless” because it would “fix something that isn't broken.”

We agree.

H.R. 915, the House-passed version of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act, includes language that we fear would reduce competition and service to customers who depend on express shipping.

The bill calls for changing how Federal Express' overnight delivery is regulated. It would move FedEx, a highly successful, efficient carrier for decades, under the National Labor Relations Act, which regulates rival UPS.

On the surface, the proposal may seem reasonable. But looking deeper, we see no justification for making the change.

Since it began its overnight delivery service in 1971, FedEx has operated under the Railway Labor Act. That statute was designed to prevent or discourage major interruptions, such as labor strikes, in interstate commerce. Airlines and express-shipping companies handle time-sensitive materials vital to our economy and health care – such as emergency medical supplies, critical replacement parts for manufacturers' factories and essential inventory stock - that its customers need ASAP. About 85 percent of FedEx parcels travel by air, so the classification makes sense. Its business model differs substantially from UPS.

The RLA allows unions to organize but it must be done on a national, not local, level. FedEx's 125,000 employees include 4,500 who belong to the Air Line Pilots Association; the others are non-union and have rejected attempts by the Teamsters to organize them. FedEx brags that all of its work force is well-paid with competitive benefits.

UPS, twice the size of FedEx, delivers about 85 percent of its packages by trucks. Most parcels are not overnight delivery. Its 240,000 Teamsters-member employees can conduct local strikes under NLRB's rules. And UPS has been more prone to labor problems and shutdowns. In 1997, for example, a 15-day Teamsters strike at UPS cost the national economy an estimated $15 billion.

If FedEx was under NLRB regulation, a handful of employees could shut down service at airports, including the Cedar Rapids facility, which handles 36,000-plus tons of airfreight annually.

FedEx also serves every county in the nation, including rural areas where the company sometimes loses money. Changing its regulation status could lead to operating losses that can't be sustained and force reduction of service to more remote places. Delivery prices likely would rise more swiftly.

This segment of H.R. 915 looks like more of a favor to UPS than a sensible leveling of the playing field. The Senate should delete it before approving the full FAA reauthorization act.

--The Gazette Editorial Board