FDX Legal Woes Highlighted in Memphis Sunday Paper - August 20, 2007

The hometown Memphis newspaper ran an extensive piece on FedEx Ground's misclassification problem in its Sunday edition Business Section.

The observations of the University of Memphis professor interviewed for the piece are worth noting:

"My guess is that the independent contract structure gives FedEx a 15- to 20-percent advantage on total compensation costs on benefits alone," said labor economist David Ciscel, professor emeritus at the University of Memphis.

"But there could be all sorts of advantages we're not seeing."

<snip>

"If FedEx won, they would win every suit, but if they lose, they lose big-time, too," Ciscel said. "Without knowing for sure, I've always thought the whole relationship was to thwart unionized drivers and not so much about cost considerations."

That's what the Teamsters have thought all along too.

The article also quotes the company's podperson: 

"We know that defending the independent contractors is the right thing to do," said Maury Lane, FedEx spokesman. "This is the kind of service our customers have asked for."

Is that more straight talk?  "The customers made us do it.  The customers made us do it."  That might not fly when the bill comes due in California or elsewhere for the company's policy of misclassifying tens of thousands of drivers.

All in all, a solid article that got its facts right and makes FedEx look pretty bad.  It must not have made for good breakfast reading for all the FDX corporate types in Memphis.