Teamsters Local 671 and FedEx Home

Teamsters Local Union 671 filed a petition for an election at the FedEx Home Delivery Terminal in Windsor, CT in February 2007.  The petitioned-for unit only covered single vehicle contracts and did not include any multi-vehicle contractors or MVC-employed drivers.

NLRB Region 34 Director Hoffman issued a decision that the single vehicle contractors were employees and eligible to vote in an election.  The ruling concluded, "I find that the Employer has failed to satisfy its burden of establishing that its contract drivers are independent contractors...As in Roadway III, the Employer in the extant case exercises substantial contraol over the contract driver's daily performance.  In this regard, the Employer offers drivers what is essentially a take-it or leave-t agreement.  It also retains the right to unilaterally reconfigure a contract driver's assigned route."

The Region 34 decision is the 8th out of 9 such decisions to determine drivers are employees.  As the Windsor, CT decision states, "On four occassions since the Employer's acquisition of Roadway, the Board has affirmed Regional Director determinations that contract drivers employed by the Employer at either its Home or Ground operations are not independent contractors and are statutory employees.

The vote was held on May 11 and ballots were counted on June 1. The drivers voted 12 - 9 to join Local 671.  A hearing into objections raised by FedEx was held on July 2 and 3 in Hartford.  The NLRB Administrative Law Judge recommended to the Board that the objections be overruled.  NLRB certification is pending.