[RichieLion]

Originally Posted by bkcunningham1

Richie, help me out with this one. At one time, didn't the NLRB rule in favor of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and said they had the right to negotiate with FedEx "employees," "contractors," "drivers," you know what I mean in Wilmington and Boston, MA.

The case was taken to the US Court of Appeals and FedEx won the case. Very basically, the court agreed that FedEx that the people the Teamsters were trying to organize were independent work area contractors and not employees of FedEx.

I think it was something like that. I'm not certain my mind is failing lately.

The case is pending for review by the Supreme Court and the Teamsters Union seems confident based on past precedent that in the end they will win the right to represent these workers.

The appeals court of the District of Columbia ruled in favor of FedEx's employee classification but clearly the drivers and the Teamsters Union don't agree. In fact, in December 2008 the company agreed to pay $27 million to settle a misclassification lawsuit brought on behalf of 203 drivers in California. In that particular suit, a state judge wrote that FedEx Ground had “close to absolute control” over the drivers, adding that the operating agreement they signed was a “brilliantly drafted contract creating the constraints of an employment relationship” disguised in the independent contractor model. Interesting it would be so terribly different on the other side of the United States.

We'll see where this ends up if and when the Supreme Court decides to look into this.

http://www.teamster.org/content/team...fedex-decision
http://unionreview.com/fedex-home-wo...usiness-owners
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aY747LwTx3w0