There Will Be Blood

One of the grimmer jokes of the Democratic Congress has been the long pretense that the Senate wants to pass a card check law to help unions organize workplaces.

"Of course we all fiercely want to ... but if we encounter even the slightest glitch or difficulty of course we'll have to give the thing up as impossible ... even though we all fiercely want to."

That glitch showed up today. Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter announced he would not vote for cloture on card check, reversing his previous declared support for the measure. The Democrats reacted like a professional wrestler hit by a stage-directed punch. "That's it, we're beat, it's all hopeless, fight's over, we'll just fall down right here." Thump.

But that's not to say that the union cause lacks all support on Capitol Hill. Not at all! Right now the full House is considering legislation that would help the Teamsters unionize FedEx. As is, federal law considers FedEx an airline. As such, its labor relations are overseen by the Railway Labor Board, whose rules are tougher on unionization. FedEx is non-union. Rival UPS, by contrast, is considered a trucking company. It is therefore overseen by the National Labor Relations Board - and it is unionized. UPS and the Teamsters have joined to lobby in favor of the change in FedEx's status. Tuesday, FedEx fired back, threatening to cancel a big order for up to 30 Boeing 777 jets if Congress approves the change.

Call it a hostage-taking situation. Congress threatens to kneecap FedEx on behalf of UPS? OK - FedEx will punish every constituency in which Boeings are built.

A friend who knows Congress well describes the place as a brokerage house, a place where favors are bought and sold. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say ... leased. The lease on FedEx's favor is expiring, and the company and Congress are fiercely negotiating over the price of renewal, with UPS and Boeing lurking in the wings with offers of their own. It's an ugly, tainted business. So tell me again why we are proposing to hand these characters a whole lot more authority over the daily workings of the US economy?