UPS/FedEx and the Law

Disclaimer here. I work for UPS, so I'm not a disinterested party on one level. On another level this is about lobbying and politics. There's a pretty nasty battle going on between these two companies. FedEx drivers are working under a law that makes its drivers airline employees. No other package delivery company has its drivers employed as airline employees. The actual bill before Congress is HR 915, which would re-classify FedEx drivers and they would be bound by National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) like all other package delivery drivers. FedEx drivers work under the Railway Labor Act (RLA).

FedEx at the beginning was primarily an airline delivering documents, which was fine until faxes and email became the primary means of document delivery. Putting FedEx drivers under the NLRA law only effects the drivers. Their airline personnel would still work under Railway Labor Act. FedEx is fighting this primarily because they would have to recognize unions. The government has more regulations which UPS has submit to that FedEx doesn't.

For what FedEx is saying, go here. This is clever, but a blatant lie. UPS was never a monopoly, and this legislation is not a bailout. If UPS was a monopoly then FedEx would never have come into existence. I couldn't find a similar site for UPS. Like I said, I'm not a disinterested party here, but I do think that FedEx's 186,000 plus drivers, that are on the ground, driving, should be regulated by the same laws as every other package delivery company in America.

Much of this conflict is because the government is once again involved in the private sector, essentially running businesses when it isn't any of their business.