he Teamsters union has the agreement it wants, but not the one it craves. A tentative national agreement is the first between the labor union and various DHL Express employee groups, but for the Teamsters it is only something of a reminder that the real prize for the union is a foothold at the express and ground operations of FedEx.

For now, U.S. law recognizes FedEx under the Railway Labor Act, which allows for only one union per work class on the property. Under the National Labor Relations Act, a law most unions prefer, there can be multiple unions representing one labor group.

Neither side is speculating officially, but Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa has made no secret that FedEx is the big prize.

Such an agreement at the Express division "would most likely be a national agreement because, by law, an RLA unit is a national unit," said David Welker, Teamsters senior campaign coordinator for the package division.

Going for a national agreement at FedEx Express "would not be a Teamsters strategy, but pursued as a result of what the law dictates," Welker said. "Of course this is a possibility, but we don't see FedEx management as willing to undertake bargaining."

FedEx says the Teamsters don't represent any employee group, but the union says it represents FedEx Ground drivers in Boston, Local 25 and Hartford, Conn, Local 671.

Drafting a national agreement with the thousands of FedEx Express employees would be particularly challenging, Welker said.

But the Teamsters may have no choice if Congress continues to recognize FedEx under the RLA.

Getting FedEx to agree to any Teamsters-led accord, much less a national agreement would be very difficult, and counter-intuitive for the union. "It is much easier to get individual units to sign up than go system wide," said Jerrold A. Glass, president of F&H Solutions Group, a labor relations and human resources business. "This has been the Teamsters' pattern and I think that will continue [at FedEx]."

An Opportunity

Obtaining a national agreement with the Express division would give an enormous boost to the Teamsters, which has been losing members of late.

According to Welker, there are roughly between 30,000 and 40,000 FedEx Express drivers; 10,000 linehaul drivers and 6,000 to 7,000 aircraft mechanics. FedEx said those numbers were inaccurate, but declined to release their own.

Bringing together various employee groups under one master agreement seems tailor made for FedEx, which is largely non-union, said industry observers. The Air Line Pilots Association represents the pilots.

FedEx seemed unconcerned about the possibility of a large organizing drive for a national agreement by the Teamsters. "It is no great surprise that with declining revenues and membership numbers that the Teamsters would target FedEx," said company spokesman Maury Lane. "So far, we have seen that the Teamsters will say and do anything to organize, despite FedEx's record of winning multiple awards for being one of the best places to work around the globe."

Still, the Teamsters could be targeting FedEx at the right time. The union has repeatedly challenged in court FedEx Ground's practice of classifying its drivers as independent contractors. The California Supreme Court in late November refused to hear an appeal by the FedEx parcel division of state trial and appeals court rulings that the company should reimburse driver expenses because they are effectively company workers.

The Internal Revenue Service fined FedEx $319 million for misclassifying workers as contractors in tax year 2002. Then, there is the stalled effort in Congress to reclassify FedEx under the NLRA, which is meeting stiff resistance from the Memphis-based carrier.

Opening Act

Meanwhile, the tentative DHL national agreement consolidates 38 different bargaining units into a single contract, using a standardized common language, said Ian Gold, Teamsters director of strategic research, who worked with the negotiating committee on the DHL tentative agreement.

The accord covers DHL drivers, clerical and call-center workers and employees at the regional sort facilities. It doesn't cover any employees of ABX Air or ASTAR Air Cargo, formerly DHL Airways, sub-set carriers of DHL.

In mid-March, local leaders for what is called "two-person meetings" will review and modify, if necessary, the tentative agreement. At that point, details of the accord will be revealed to the public. Ballots will then be mailed to the DHL members for ratification expected sometime in mid-April, Gold said.

The tentative agreement at DHL is not unique, Gold said, but it has been some time since one was signed. The Teamsters have a master freight agreement covering the larger unionized less-than-truckload carriers, Gold said.

Big Towne

Towne Air Freight's recent acquisition of eight-location operation of Synergy Cargo Logistics is the clearest signal yet the South Bend, Ind.-based company is determined to better compete with Forward Air and other large air freight truckers.

Synergy Cargo Logistics is a privately-held logistics company founded in 1994 that has grown into a $25 million company with eight locations, mostly in the Southwest.

"The acquisition of Synergy significantly strengthens our full-service model in Arizona, Nevada and California and opens the door into Texas," said Tom Downey, president and CEO of Towne Air Freight.

Synergy founder Kim Sheridan-Rohasek will become vice president of Towne's Western region.

… Briefly

American Airlines Cargo is expanding the Expeditefs product guarantee to include its truck feeder service. The trucking segments connect freight from secondary markets with widebody flights at American's gateway cities and Expeditefs provides priority boarding and flight connections. … UPS is accelerating package movements between more than 12 million ZIP code pairings by one day or more. The improvements include lanes originating in eight key states and more than 70 markets, and will speed up more than 75,000 packages nationwide per day. … Anchorage-based Northern Air Cargo acquired Reliant Logistics, an aircraft charter brokerage firm based in Ypsilanti, Mich. … Forwarder SEKO expanded its Puerto Rico office with additional staff and enhanced IT. The facility is close to San Juan's Luis Munoz Marin International Airport. … Purolator USA, the subsidiary of the Canadian distribution services company, opened a branch office in Los Angeles, serving customers in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. … DHL signed a five-year, $80 million agreement with procurement services company Avendra, which will use the shipper for expedited delivery services to hotels and resorts. In other company news, DHL Global Forwarding was revalidated to participate in the U.S. Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program. … Emirates Airlines boosted its service to Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport to daily service to Dubai. … Cargo traffic at San Francisco International Airport fell 5.4 percent in 2007, including an 8.3 percent drop in December. Domestic cargo was down 9.3 percent during the year and 16.4 percent in December. ... United Airlines started daily direct flights between Denver and London Heathrow, with truck connections to Denver from major points in the U.S. southwest region. … Q Aviation, a Ft. Worth, Texas-based leasing company will acquire 10 767-300 extended freighters under the Boeing Converted Freighter program. The order includes options for 10 more aircraft. … Construction began on the DB Schenker 62,000-square-foot logistics center at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The international air freight and national supply and distribution center will nearly double BAX Global and Schenker's existing capacity at DFW. … Descartes Systems Group, a logistics software provider, has introduced Descartes CargoBooker, a basic air freight electronic booking service aimed at small- and mid-sized forwarders. … Air services company ASIG started ground handling for LAN and its 14 weekly flights at Los Angeles International Airport. ... Peregrine Point, a new passenger and cargo air charter company, will build its 58,800-square-foot headquarters at Fort Worth Alliance Airport, some 15 miles from Dallas Ft. Worth International Airport. … Kalitta Air signed an agreement with United Technologies' Pratt & Whitney to upgrade the airline's fleet of JT9D engines with 12 upgrade kits. The JT9D-7Q upgrade provides increased durability and extended on-wing time. … AAR won a $28 million order from the U.S. Army for containerized roll-in/out platforms. AAR SUMMA Technology will manufacture the specialized equipment, which is primarily used to transport ammunition. … Forwarder Associated Global Systems will expand residential delivery service to ship products of any weight and size to any residential address in America. AGS Home Delivery Service is tailored for companies which sell direct to consumers and home businesses which require a single carrier service.