FedEx and Jim Oberstar

You won’t be hearing many elegies from Memphis lamenting Rep. James L. Oberstar’s departure from Congress.

Oberstar’s loss Tuesday to Republican Chip Cravaack means the contentious legislative amendment that would change the status of FedEx Express under federal labor law is all but dead.

That has wider implications in the airline industry because the FedEx labor provision is one of the major sticking points that has held up long-term reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration for more than two years, leaving the agency's modernization plans in limbo.

The FedEx provision would change the way workers at the carrier's express business are covered by labor law, moving them under the National Labor Relations Act -- the same as those 300,000-some Teamsters drivers at UPS -- and so making the operations an easier target for organized labor. Right now, they're covered by the Railway Labor Act because of the company's history as an airline with a national network.

The FedEx-UPS labor battle has made for great Washington theater, prompting FedEx to create a campaign calling the measure a "Brown Bailout" -- just Google "FAA Reauthorization" and see what sponsored ad turns up -- but its made for legislative gridlock in Congress. The FAA bill is now in its 16th extension.

Oberstar has been at the center of the impasse, standing immovably behind the provision with an intensity that seems to go beyond a simple pro-labor stance.

There have been many stories around Washington about chilly relations between Oberstar and FedEx, which is fiercely non-union, and one published report on the FedEx-UPS battle led with an anecdote about how Oberstar kept FedEx Chairman Frederick Smith waiting in his outer office for a meeting long after the scheduled appointment. Earlier this year, Oberstar said in an interview that Smith had "bought his way" into favorable regulatory coverage.

With House control now in the hands of the Republicans, and Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., now likely to succeed Oberstar as chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, don't expect the FedEx labor amendment to come back.

Mica is a former chairman of the aviation subcommittee and well known to the airline industry. Without the FedEx labor provision, Mica could find FAA reauthorization a relatively quick legislative accomplishment to tote up in the next Congress.

The industry is familiar with Oberstar too, of course, but as this piece by thestreet.com notes, it's mostly for opposing and decrying the mergers that have reshaped the industry in recent years.

-- Contact Paul Page at ppage@joc.com.