Are You Working for the WRONG Delivery Company?
UPS and FedEx go Toe to Toe over Labor Laws or Bailout?
Things got ugly earlier this year when FedEx created a website labeling a proposed labor law change a “Brown Bailout” for UPS.
“What were they referring to?” you ask.
The alleged bailout isn’t really a bailout at all. Our beloved government did not give any actual money to UPS. However, what is happening is that FedEx is potentially being asked to abide by the same labor laws as UPS.
It seems that UPS and FedEx should be held to the same labor regulations, wouldn’t you say?
Currently, FedEx is organized and characterized as an airline, and thus held to The Railway Labor Act; which requires unions to organize workers in one national group, making it more difficult to strike. UPS, on the other hand, is set up as a trucking company, which is governed by the National Labor Relations Act ; which allows workers to organize at the local level.
UPS asserts that they are being held to more costly standards than FedEx when it comes to labor laws, and this creates an unfair advantage for FedEx.
FedEx claims that if this legislation passes they will be unable to purchase 30 more Boeing 777 freighters; a contract totaling $7.7 billion. Feel free to do your own economic projections.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming months. Thus far I have not been able to locate any comments from long time union supporter and current Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis. I would be very interested to hear what she has to say. Please feel free to send me any of her commentary on the matter.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock/michaeljung