FedEx officials came to Bismarck on Tuesday as part of a multi-state public relations campaign to rally against a congressional provision that would loosen unionizing restrictions for the company's employees.

The bill has pitted the world's largest delivery service, UPS, against its second-place rival, FedEx, in an increasingly heated PR battle largely waged in Washington, D.C., while Congress debates whether some employees in FedEx's delivery service should fall under the same labor laws that govern most UPS employees, which would make it easier for them to organize.

Currently, most FedEx employees fall under the Railway Labor Act, a law drafted in the 1920s as a way to end labor disputes for the nation's railroad commerce that was later amended to include airlines. That means FedEx employees, including truck drivers, can only unionize nationally and have a limited ability to strike.

UPS, on the other hand, is treated as a trucking company and falls under the National Labor Relations Act, making it easier for its employees to organize. The company has 240,000 unionized employees, out of 345,000 workers in the United States, who are organized by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. There are 600 employees in North Dakota.

FedEx officials say this is fair, noting most of their commerce - 85 percent - is conducted by airline, including 164 flights in North Dakota each week, while most UPS commerce is delivered by truck.

If the union standard is changed for FedEx, it could mean the potential for losing "reliable service," said spokesman Maury S. Lane, noting a 1997 UPS labor strike. Under the Railway Labor Act, FedEx could be ordered by the president to resume work, while UPS would not fall under that order.

Meanwhile, UPS officials say the disparity gives FedEx a leg up and have urged Congress, even asking its employees to wage a letter-writing campaign to lawmakers, to approve the legislation.

UPS spokesman Norman Black said the current labor law amounts to "special treatment" for FedEx. (In return, FedEx is calling the proposed legislation a "bailout" for UPS.)

"Our bottom line is very simple, pilots don't deliver packages, airplanes don't deliver packages, drivers deliver and pick up packages," Black said. "There can be no logical reason to treat one company's drivers differently than all the others and we, UPS, certainly have not been shy about making that opinion known to the U.S. Congress."

The controversial provision is included in the Federal Aviation Administration funding bill. The bill passed the House in May, 277-136.

Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., was not present for the vote, but a spokeswoman said he would have voted for the bill with or without the union language, considering it funds North Dakota's airports.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who sits on the Senate Commerce Committee, said the Senate's version of the FAA funding bill does not include the unionizing provision and that House and Senate lawmakers will negotiate the provision - presumably behind closed doors - when it gets to conference committee.

FedEx representatives on Tuesday, in conjunction with the North Dakota Chamber of Commerce, called the bill a "legislative bailout" for UPS.

"There are no hearings that have happened and all it's going to do is damage the economy," Lane said.

Dave MacIver, president of the North Dakota chamber, said the bill "is not a union thing."

"Everyone at FedEx still has the right to organize into a union; this is about the interruption of service," he said. "North Dakota is No. 1 in international growth in this country. We don't want to see an interruption that might affect the way people do business."

UPS has also asked its employees to write letters to Congress, urging them to pass the legislation. Some employees have expressed in online forums, such as www.browncafe.com, that the company pressured them into sending the letters.

"We're certainly sorry if any of our employees felt that way, we can tell you categorically that there was no pressure brought to bear," Black said. "It was a totally voluntary program."

Both companies have spent millions of dollars lobbying Congress on the legislation, which is a battle that has been waged over the last decade.

Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Dorgan have received campaign contributions from both companies, but Dorgan has yet to receive any campaign contributions from FedEx for his 2010 re-election bid, while UPS has given him $6,500, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Pomeroy got $10,000 from UPS during his 2008 re-election bid and $4,000 for 2010, according to CRP. FedEx gave him nothing for the 2008 election and, so far, nothing for his next one.

(Reach reporter Brian Duggan at 223-8482 or brian.duggan@;bismarcktribune.com.)