FedEx Asks Pilots to Clarify Plan Before Talks Can Resume

CHICAGO — FDX Corp.’s Federal Express said Friday it asked its pilots union to clarify its latest contract proposals before it will resume talks aimed at averting a threatened strike during the peak holiday shipping season.

A union spokesman said the company had rejected its latest counterproposal, but the company said the one-page note it received from the union on Friday did not constitute the formal written proposal it had requested.

“They basically rejected our counterproposal,” said Tony Hauserman, communications chairman for the FedEx Pilots Assn.

“We have not seen a complete written proposal that balances the needs of our customers, shareholders and employees,” said FedEx spokesman Bill Margaritis.

Late Friday, the company rejected a union call for binding arbitration. FedEx said it had offered to enter arbitration at the beginning of negotiations and has been bargaining in good faith since.

“Arbitration at this time would be unfair to FedEx and its other employees and inappropriate given the history of negotiations,” said Gregory Rossiter, another FedEx spokesman.

Talks between the pilots union and FedEx, a unit of Memphis, Tenn.-based FDX, broke down Oct. 30. Compensation and scheduling were the main sticking points.

Rather than offering to resume negotiations, Margaritis said FedEx responded to the union’s latest note with a letter seeking clarification of some issues.

Hauserman said the document offered some changes in the union’s position on compensation, scheduling and contract duration.

The union, which represents more than 3,000 FedEx pilots, mailed strike ballots this week, and will count them on Dec. 3. A two-thirds vote in favor of a strike could disrupt air shipments in the vital weeks before Christmas.

FDX shares closed up $1.13 at $54 on the New York Stock Exchange.