Release #: FDX 24.13
December 20, 2024
Company Reports Earnings as FedEx Pilots Say They Are “FedUp”
MEMPHIS, Tenn.—As FedEx Corporation reported second quarter fiscal year 2025 adjusted earnings of $1.4 billion, the FedEx Express (FDX) pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), expressed their frustrations over protracted contract negotiations while shareholders received a dividend of $1.38 per share, the 90th consecutive quarter of reported dividends. Amidst a financially engineered business plan and associated air-ground network optimization programs, FedEx pilots held an informational picket in New York’s Times Square near the Nasdaq MarketSite ahead of the earnings report noting cultural erosion, degraded working conditions, and increased operational risks.
“The same group of pilots that ‘quite frankly, helped save the world’ during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to FedEx founder and Executive Chairman Fred Smith, are fed up with management’s decision making,” said FDX ALPA Master Executive Council chair Capt. Jose Nieves. “Despite delivering critical medical supplies and sustaining crucial nodes for e-commerce—leading to record-breaking profits at FedEx during the pandemic years—FedEx pilots are being cast aside in a financially engineered business plan.”
The pilot group has been an instrumental component of FedEx’s long-standing success as the clear leader in the express delivery segment. However, management has abandoned its “people first” philosophy and is now so focused on cost-cutting and shareholder value that they are neglecting the true stakeholders who earned FedEx’s global stature—its employees. The financial discipline “DRIVE” and its associated “Network 2.0” plans prioritize short-term cost savings over long-term cultural sustainability, undermining the values that built FedEx’s reputation as an industry leader. Layoffs and outsourcing have sent a chilling message to all employees.
“Management willingly disregarded two decades of data that balanced productivity with safety. Our pilots are now asked to do more with less rest and in less time while still operating in unnatural conditions on the backside of the clock,” said Nieves, referring to pilot working conditions being degraded measurably as FedEx divested of most of the U.S. Postal Service obligations and is attempting to optimize air routes without regard for scheduling best practices.
Traditionally, the pilot union’s Scheduling Committee highlights these challenges as “disputed pairings.” The number of disputed pairings increased measurably in October, the first month that implemented optimization plans, and the issue persists in current and forecast schedules. ALPA is tracking increased optimization initiatives that may have leaned schedules too far, causing schedule disruptions, revisions, and involuntary extensions to what was once a stable air network. Meanwhile, holiday peak shipping season’s demand, combined with FedEx’s optimization initiatives, is pressurizing the environment and leading to increased operational risk.
“As these disruptions continue to mount, combined with FedEx’s decision to cut critical components of the overall workforce, FedEx pilots are more instrumental to network reliability than ever before and continue to demonstrate the utmost professionalism as the last line of defense for aviation safety,” concluded Nieves. “It’s time for management to reassess the impact of recent optimization decisions and collaborate with us on a way ahead—a future that balances safety, productivity, and quality of life in a challenging operating environment.”
FedEx Express pilots have been in protracted labor contract negotiations since May 2021. Their last contractual pay raise went into effect November 2020, but the Corporation continues to benefit from their unwavering commitment amidst a tumultuous labor relationship.
Founded in 1931, ALPA is the largest airline pilot union in the world and represents more than 79,000 pilots at 42 U.S. and Canadian airlines. Visit ALPA.org or follow us on Twitter @ALPAPilots.
-###-
CONTACT: ALPA Media, 703-481-4440 or Media@alpa.org