FedEx

 Federal Express has a record of misguided and futile attempts to keep unions out of their workplace by classifying their drivers as “independent contractors,” rather than company employees. Since 1988, the NLRB has ruled that FedEx Home Delivery drivers are direct employees, not independent contractors, seven different times. Yet to this day, there are workers disputing their classification in order to hold an NLRB election. While some have had recent victories in proving their misclassification, FedEx has proven to be adept at one union-busting tactic: delaying the process through endless and unnecessary appeals.

One of these struggles came to fruition on June 18, as the NLRB certified Teamsters Local 25 as the collective bargaining representative for drivers at two FedEx facilities in Wilmington, Massachusetts. Currently, drivers in Connecticut who voted 12-9 in an NLRB election in May to authorize representation by Teamsters Local 671 are waiting on an appeal made by the company to the Hartford NLRB office. The appeal is essentially a delay tactic, in which the company is challenging the validity of two ballots, and the union’s conduct.

This all came after the employees proved to the Hartford NLRB and the headquarters in Washington D.C. that they should not be considered independent contractors—just as the Wilmington drivers had already done within the past year. The appeal has now been heard by an NLRB Administrative Law Judge, who recommended to the Board that both of FedEx's challenges be overruled. Certification by the NLRB is pending, and should by all means give us the result that we all expect: That these drivers are now members of Teamsters Local 671.

FedEx received another unfavorable decision recently, at the hands of the House Transportation Committee. The committee voted to amend the Federal Aviation Administration’s funding bill, so that FedEx Express drivers and mechanics can organize under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), rather than the Railway Labor Act (RLA). This changes a provision that gives the company the status of an airline, and makes it much easier for workers to organize.

These recent decisions that have struck down the clever, yet reprehensible misclassifications that kept FedEx workers from organizing are great news for workers, and show that this union-busting company may soon have to compete fairly with companies that employ union workers and pay good wages and benefits, such as UPS.

Make sure to check in on the decision of the Hartford NLRB, on whether Connecticut drivers can join Teamsters Local 671. Visit FedEx Watch or Teamsters Local 671 for more information.