Teamsters Launch FedEx Canada Campaign

The Teamsters union, already fighting legal and legislative battles to organize FedEx workers in the United States, said Monday it is launching a “large-scale campaign” to bring FedEx workers in Canada into the union.

A spokesman said the union has some 50 organizers in the field across Canada getting information to the 2,000 to 3,000 workers the Teamsters said the company has across the country.

"We are confident about organizing workers from this company," Robert Bouvier, president of Teamsters Canada, said in a statement. "The time has come for the employer to respect and treat them fairly."

The union is targeting express and trucking employees but is focused most on the express side of the business, said spokesman Stephane Lacroix.

The effort comes as the Teamsters union is targeting FedEx on a couple of fronts in the United States.

The union is backing a measure in Congress that would make it easier to organize FedEx workers by changing the way the company is covered under federal labor law. The union also has been fighting in court to have FedEx Ground drivers, now called independent contractors, categorized as company employees.

The Teamsters said it is seeking to organize FedEx workers nationally across Canada, although the union says Canadian law would allow workers in specific cities to be organized even if others elsewhere reject a labor vote.

FedEx officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.