Opposition to the "Fedex Express language" to the omnibus spending bill by the good US Senators from Tennessee this past week was nothing more than FDX management's successful lobbying effort to maintain a competitive cost advantage by depriving the ground delivery drivers the right to organize locally and negotiate an industry standard wage for the job they do. (Everyone else who does their job is not covered by RLA, but NLRA). Under RLA, it is nearly impossible for this group to organize since it will take a national effort and vote, not a local one.

This whole scheme of paying home delivery drivers as private contractors (using 1099s vs. W-2s) while at the same time arguing that they are airline employees seems like a real house of cards. What a deal for management: No benefits, no health care coverage, no retirement, and best of all, the US government's capitulation in maintaining a labor law loophole that provides nearly no chance for these "employees" to organize locally.

Does the one labor organization on the FDX property (ALPA) condone or condemn this labor practice? Does the pilot group support management's position or are they siding with organized labor on this provision (a.k.a. "Fedex Express language)?