It’s not very often that the deep-thinking conservatives over at the Heritage Foundation end up on the wrong side of a free-market issue, so when they do it’s worth taking a closer look.
In a recent blog post titled, “A Special Delivery for UPS that Could Change FedEx Overnight,” James Sherk addresses a proposed amendment to the pending FAA reauthorization bill which would place FedEx Express delivery drivers under the same federal labor law as every other delivery truck driver – including FedEx Freight drivers.
In his column, Mr. Sherk notes that “FedEx has avoided the costs of collective bargaining primarily by keeping its employees satisfied without union representation.” Although that may well be true, Mr. Sherk also notes that “Federal law has also helped FedEx stay nonunion.” And THAT’S the problem.
Congress is picking winners and losers in this industry – rather than merely “umpiring” it – by providing one company an unfair advantage over its competitors. Indeed, Mr. Sherk himself admits that this inequity in federal labor law “gives FedEx a competitive advantage.” (Actually, it’s only subsidiary FedEx Express which enjoys the competitive advantage. FedEx Freight drivers are already covered under the same labor law as UPS drivers.)
While we, free-marketers ourselves, can certainly appreciate and empathize with conservative opposition to anything which might benefit organized labor, there’s a higher conservative principle at stake here: Equal treatment under the law.
Unfortunately, knee-jerk anti-union sentiment is blinding many conservatives to the fact that this is not a issue between FedEx and the Teamsters, but a issue between one express delivery company and another. And again, as Mr. Sherk admits, federal law is extending to one of those companies a competitive advantage which is not being earned in the marketplace.
In addition, Mr. Sherk has missed a very important point in this matter.
Even if the law is changed so that FedEx Express drivers are covered under the same law as every other driver, that doesn’t mean they’ll unionize. Indeed, FedEx Freight drivers who are already categorized under the same labor law as UPS drivers have not chosen to unionize. So if FedEx Express continues to keep its employees “satisfied without union representation,” there’s no reason in the world why this long overdue field-leveling change in the law would change that relationship ever….let alone overnight.