FedEx Media Blitz against UPS

The FedEx Brown Bailout campaign is a fight against unionization. The use of the media savvy term "Brown Bailout" is disingenuous. It is a massive lobbying campaign to preserve a competitive edge against UPS and avoid unionization of FedEx workers. The fight against this legislation has been ongoing for several years.

The Web, including Facebook, is saturated with FedEx-sponsored links that bring you to a simple petition to fill out and submit in support of FedEx's anti-labor campaign, without ever offering an explanation of exactly what you are petitioning against.

The focus is a reauthorization bill from the Federal Aviation Administration which would enable FedEx drivers to unionize on a terminal-by-terminal level under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), rather than under the Railway Labor Act (RLA).

Because FedEx began as an airline, FedEx Express workers came under the Railway Labor Act, which was passed in 1926 to prevent disruptions of national air and train traffic. The RLA requires unionization to have a national vote by every worker at the company.

"The NLRA covers most private-sector workers... including delivery drivers, truck mechanics and workers at sorting facilities both at UPS and FedEx Ground." (Click on the post title for the link to the source material. Although this story is a year old, the controversy has heated up again in recent months.)

The deceptive nature of this campaign is a clear warning to do some wider research before jumping on any web-touted bandwagon. THEN, once you make up your own mind, email or write to your congressman and senators stating your position. It will carry more weight and result in better decision making.

The way this campaign is being conducted could easily mislead union advocates who oppose the recent corporate bailouts to petition against the very cause they support.