UPDATE: FedEx Expects Senate To Alter Driver Labor Laws

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Wall Street Journal

By Christopher Hinton

FedEx Corp. (FDX) said Wednesday it expects the U.S. Senate to alter an aviation bill that would change the labor laws governing its drivers, while praising a Boeing Co. (BA) aircraft order it had once threatened to cancel if Congress didn't bow to its wishes.

Last month, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would put FedEx express-shipping drivers, sorters, loaders and others under the National Labor Relations Act, while keeping pilots and airplane mechanics under the Railway Labor Act.

The change would make it easier for FedEx drivers to strike and could potentially increase the company's labor costs.

"We presently expect the Senate leadership to move forward and see if there is a way to get an FAA bill that does not include the RLA change in it," said Christine Richards, general counsel, on a post-earnings call with analysts. "And quite frankly we could see some efforts in this area as soon as next week."

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100616-710513.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

[Yuugal]

1. K&R

[JDPriestly]

2. FedEx employees should have the right to strike.

It is a basic human right.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

3. Read this about FedEx's labor history

This doesn't have a date on it but I believe this occurred in 2007.

http://www.massaflcio.org/attorney-general-coakley%E2%80%99s-office-hits-federal-express-fine-misclassifying-drivers

Attorney General Coakley’s Office Hits Federal Express with Fine for Misclassifying Drivers

Across the country, Federal Express is notorious for abusing the classification of ‘independent contractor' in order to keep drivers from organizing into unions, and depriving them of health care benefits, access to unemployment insurance, workers compensation benefits, and in some cases overtime pay. Many drivers have successfully appealed this classification and have gained the right to join a union, but Federal Express has refused to acknowledge that their drivers are in fact company employees--not independent contractors, dragging each individual case through the National Labor Relations Board. Appealing the classification is generally an effort in futility for the company, as the NLRB has ruled on seven different occasions that FedEx drivers are company employees. However, in doing so the company is using a favored union-busting tactic of large corporations--using their vast resources to drag out the process through endless and unnecessary appeals, thus denying justice through delay.

Now though, it is the company who is suffering from their own misguided policy, as the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office recently took the initiative to expose this misclassification before the company has another opportunity to drag it through years of litigation. Attorney General Martha Coakley's office assessed penalties of more than $190,000 against FedEx Ground for intentionally misclassifying thirteen drivers as independent contractors. The investigation represents a proactive approach by the Attorney General's Office, particularly the Fair Labor Division, headed by Assistant Attorney General Joanne Goldstein.

Attorney General Coakley stated, "The practice of misclassification does great harm, not only to misclassified workers and to the Commonwealth in the form of lost revenues, but also by putting law-abiding businesses at a disadvantage. We intend to pursue aggressively employers such as FedEx Ground when they violate the Commonwealth's Independent Contractor Law."

The enforcement of employee misclassification is also a huge victory for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who are organizing FedEx drivers throughout the country. Teamsters Local 25 recently won an organizing victory by proving to the National Labor Relations Board that 39 drivers at two FedEx facilities in Wilmington, MA are employees, not independent contractors. The findings of the Fair Labor Division and the threat of enforcement should prevent any future misclassifications in Massachusetts, making it easier for FedEx drivers to unionize, and forcing FedEx to compete fairly with companies that employ union workers and provide good wages and benefits, such as UPS.

http://www.fedexdriverslawsuit.com/

FIRST SUMMARY JUDGMENT RULING FROM THE FEDERAL MDL COURT HOLDS THAT ILLINOIS FEDEX DRIVERS ARE EMPLOYEES, NOT INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS
June, 2010. FedEx Ground and Home Delivery drivers have been found to be employees under the Illinois Wage Act. The decision was issued by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Miller in the multi-district litigation that Judge Miller has been presiding over for the past five years. (In re: FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. Employment Practices Litigation, Cause No. 3:05-MD-527 RM) This holding came in a May 28, 2010 Opinion and Order granting summary judgment to the Illinois drivers under the Wage Act. The Court did not rule on other claims made by the Illinois drivers, but indicated it will address those claims separately.

The decision is important in that it is one of a growing number of decisions in the past few years holding that the FedEx Ground drivers are employees and not, as FedEx claims, independent contractors. The essence of the cases consolidated before Judge Miller is that FedEx Ground has intentionally and consistently misclassified drivers as independent contractors, when they are in reality employees.

[leahcim]

4. So that's why...

...all the banner ads talk about a "Brown Bailout" for the last few weeks.

[Fearless]

5. Corporation over human interest again and again and again... n/t

[pattmarty]

6. Good, it's about time. Fuck Fed Ex.

[indepat]

10. Now, now, Ranger Fred might take umbrage

:P

[Dr.Phool]

7. Under the Railway Labor Act, it's almost impossible to strike.

After talks reach an impasse, the mediation board member is supposed to offer a proffer of arbitration to both parties. If either side rejects arbitration a 30 day cooling off period starts, at the end of which the union can go on strike or the company can impose it's contract changes.

However, if the mediation board refuses to make the proffer of arbitration, negotiations can be at a standstill for years. I went through that with a mediation board member who just happened to be the daughter of Bush I's Secretary of the Interior. And she didn't even try to make a show of being neutral.

[depakid]

8. Depakid expects the House of Lords will comply

[Omaha Steve]

9. FedEx says it earned $419 million

http://www.omaha.com/article/20100617/MONEY/706179985

FedEx says it earned $419 million

FedEx said Wednesday that in the quarter ended in May, it earned $419 million, or $1.33 per share. It lost $876 million, or $2.82 per share a year earlier. Excluding a writedown on the value of assets and aircraft, earnings were 64 cents per share a year ago. Revenue jumped 20 percent to $9.43 billion.