FedEx vs. UPS * USA - Are nation’s top couriers airlines or trucking companies?

Is a driver for FedEx Express part of an airline that should be regulated by a federal law that governs railroads and airlines, or is he a trucking company driver who should fall under regulations that cover such companies?

Albuquerque,NM,USA -The New Mexico Business Weekly, by Dennis Domrzalski -Oct 30, 2009: -- That’s the issue that the nation’s two largest shipping companies – FedEx Corp. and UPS – debated in Albuquerque this past week... UPS spokesman, Malcolm Berkley, said there’s no evidence that FedEx’s 100,000+ employees, who are already regulated under the NLRA, have unionized or want to. He added that FedEx Express is using the threat of potential work stoppages at UPS as a way to steal customers and said that UPS hasn’t had a strike since 1997... “The issue is equal treatment under the law,” Berkley said. “The equal treatment of drivers”... He added that UPS thinks it’s ridiculous that FedEx Express drivers are considered airline workers... The language to put FedEx Express’ drivers under the NLRA is contained in the House version of the FAA reauthorization act. The Senate version does not have the language... FedEx spokesman, Maury, said that about 4,500 to 5,000 of FedEx Express’ pilots and mechanics who fall under the Railway Labor Act are unionized. The rest of the company’s 140,000 employees are not... Berkley said nearly 80 percent of UPS’s 350,000 employees are unionized... Complicating the issue is that FedEx Corp. has four divisions: FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight and FedEx Office. Only FedEx Express is covered by the Railway Labor Act...


* "UPS Vs. FEDEX" - "Using Unions as Weapons"



Video from youtube, by ReasonTV -10 Noviembre 2009: -- You may have heard the UPS is in quite the political fight with FEDEX. Though both are package-delivery companies, they're governed by totally different federal labor rules. As a result, UPS's workforce is much more heavily unionized than FEDEX's—and more than twice as expensive... So now UPS is trying to get FEDEX reclassified under federal law as a way of screwing a competitor. That's horrendous, but it also makes a sick kind of business sense. And it also reveals the real villain: A government that is big enough to absolutely, positively guarantee it can screw any business. Overnight.

"UPS Vs. FEDEX" was produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie (who also hosts). Approximately two minutes long.

This video is based on "Using Unions as Weapons," by Mercatus Center economist Veronique de Rugy, which appeared in the October 2009 print edition of Reason. Read that article at http://reason.com/archives/2009/09/28...