The FedEx Master Executive Council voted for Captain Jose Nieves, a Boeing 757 pilot who has been at FedEx for 28 years, to lead the union's 5,800 members, the Air Line Pilots Association announced late Tuesday.
Nieves replaces Captain Billy Wilson, who was elected Oct. 30, 2023 for an interim term through March 2025 but was voted out this month in the face of growing opposition. A subset of disenchanted pilots willing to take a more aggressive stance versus FedEx management pushed the vote.
Wilson took the helm when predecessor Christopher Norman resigned in the wake of last summer's union rejection of a tentative agreement that leadership endorsed as delivering industry-leading improvements on pay, retirement and work-life balance.
Nieves' term will run through March 25, 2025.
"FedEx pilots are facing challenges unlike any in recent years, and I believe this is a critical time in our union's history" said Capt. Nieves, in a news release. "At the top of that list of challenges is standing up to a company that has explicitly demonstrated a failure to value its pilots and employees. . ."Our pilots grow more ...