In a ruling sure to upset many in Corporate America, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Boston has ruled that FedEx drivers are statutory employees, not independent contractors, and so the drivers can now hold secret-ballot, union-organizing elections.
In addition to having been assessed millions of dollars by the courts and government agencies over the past year regarding its employment practices, the company now faces the prospect of significantly increased labor and vehicle maintenance costs.
Throughout much of Corporate America, independent contractors have created opportunities for themselves and the corporations for which they provide services. It has been a mutually advantageous relationship. Drivers, in the case of FedEx and a wide variety of food companies, have enjoyed the benefits of affluent incomes based upon their own combintations of diligence and entrepreneurship. Companies have been able to maintain a competitive edge and so operate at maximum levels of productivity.
If the NLRB decision in Boston portends future relations between independent contractors and corporations, then both will suffer as will the U. S. economy.
For the second time in three years, nurses at the FMC Center in Flagstaff, Arizona voted to remain union free.
This is a stunning development, considering there has been so much pro-union publicity about nurses wanting to be represented by unions. What happened at FMC proves the point that not all employees, particularly nurses, believe that their best interests would be represented by unions.
In fact, more and more workers understand that unionization may not necessarily benefit them. They resent having to pay union dues that are often used for political purposes for which they disapprove. They are further angered when they learn that many union heads are given six and seven-figure salaries, plus fringe benefits that permit them to live like middle eastern potentates.
Nurses work hard for the money they earn. They do not want to fund the often extravagant lifestyles that their dues are used to fund. Congratulations to the savvy and hard-working nurses at FMC.
Right now, Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai pose the toughest competition for the Detroit auto makers. And one major cause of domestic suffering is the cost of union workers. They earn far more than the workers at Asian companies earn and so significantly drive up costs. In addition, healthcare insurance premiums and pension benefits add to astronomical costs that Detroit can no longer afford to fund, especially with the decline in the sales of its products.
Unlike their U.S. counterparts, the Asian manufacturers had chosen to build plants in right-to-work states, where labor costs are low. Detroit will now do the same.
Now that Ford is offering to buy out the employment contracts of 75,000 unionized workers, it will be able to compete on a more level playing field with it Asian competitors.
In a global economy, U. S. companies need every advantage they can create. If not, they will be overwhelmed by many foreign companies that run lean and mean. What is happening at Ford, and has happened at GM, will spread beyond the auto industry and point to a time when U.S. industries will be able to go toe-to-toe with foreign companies.
With union membership at its lowest level in decades, unions are gearing up to organize workers in right-to-work states, such as Arizona, where unions want to organize state government employees, grocery store workers, health care workers, and iron workers among various others. Unions are also promoting a minimum wage law that will be the subject of a public referendum on November 7.
The unions that are spear heading this movement are the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Arizona has a Democratic governor who is pro union, but the state has a Republican legislature that will vote against union inspired measures. While the unions want a collective bargaining agreement set in law, it is unlikely that the legislature will go along with it.
For nearly 60 years, Arizona has not been a place that was hospitable to unions, yet the unions feel that the large number of immigrant service workers in the state will give them an opportunity to recruit new members. No longer are immigrants looked upon as a threat to other low-paid workers, rather they are seen as providing the large numbers of votes that can influence law makers.
What is happening in Arizona is germinating in other right-to-work states. Corporate America cannot waste time. It must create workplace environments that promote pro-management viewpoints so that workers do not feel compelled to join unions.