FedEx Takes a Hit, but Cohen Gets Kudos for a Last-Ditch Stand
by Jackson Baker
As a member of the House Transportation Committee, Cohen eloquently but unsuccessfully opposed an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill that reclassified FedEx ground employees and made the home-town industry and well-known national cargo carrier more vulnerable to strikes.
The amendment, backed by rival carrier UPS, puts the FedEx ground workers under the umbrella of the National Labor Relations Act rather than the Railway Labor Act, which had previously governed all Fed-Ex employees and which imposes more restrictions on local, as against national, labor actions.
Noting he’d been warned that both organized labor and Transportation Committee chairman James Oberstar (D-Minnesota) had “long memories,” the Memphis congressman recalled that he had stood with labor on a variety of issues but had to “speak truth to power” on the FedEx amendment, which, he said, could result in shutdowns of national commerce and affect national security.
The result? Chairman Oberstar, who had authored the amendment, which passed 51-18, had this to say: “The chair does have a very long memory indeed – for a member’s integrity, and I respect that of the gentleman from Tennessee. He spoke with his heart and from his experience, and we appreciate that.”
See the video of Cohen's remarks here.
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Steve Cohen has been an eloquent and thoughtful voice in the public realm for many years, toiling in the rhetorical wilderness that was and is the Tennessee State Senate. In the years I watched him there, he was the rare -sometimes the only- voice arguing for civil liberties and economic justice. And though he took stands that made him unpopular in some circles, his integrity was always respected. How many times do we get to see that in a pol? Memphis should be proud.
Yeah, he really went out on a limb there. 51-18? Tight. Do you think any Democrat worth his entitlements would dare vote against a bill benefiting organized labor? Only if he knew his vote meant nothing. He would have been conveniently absent if this had been close at all.
To see how FedEx treats its workers visit www.fedexaminer.com. The truth will come out!
much as I love and respect Steve, he knuckled under to some obviously pretty intense pressure to prevent unionization at FedEx. Hey, who needs a union when they can make a whole $10 an hour (below the poverty line for most families), and who needs health coverage when they're making all that money anyway? Steve's right: unions at FedEx would obviously be a bad thing.
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