UPS Bailout: FedEx's 'Brown Bailout' Media Campaign (VIDEO) (UPDATED)

UPDATED 5:29 p.m.

FedEx has launched a full-fledged attack against a bill that it considers to be a bailout of its competitor, United Parcel Service. Calling the bill a "Brown Bailout," FedEx is hoping to stir populist sentiment against UPS with BrownBailout.com, which features videos of an actor wandering around Washington D.C. asking locals where the government bailout offices are:

The actor, called 'The Brown Bailout Guy,' quips: "I'm looking for my bailout to build a monopoly in the shipping industry."

WATCH:

But buried underneath the media campaign, Politico reports, may be an attempt to prevent FedEx employees from unionizing -- which, incidentally, may be why U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyo.), Grover Norquist and National Taxpayers Union President Duane Pard recently signed a pro-UPS letter to FedEx's CEO Fred Smith.

Politico points to a story from May 22 in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal:

"The House passed the $70 billion FAA Reauthorization Act on Thursday with a provision that FedEx adamantly opposes -- making it easier for FedEx Express drivers to be organized by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. ... It permits drivers for FedEx Express to organize into local collective bargaining units under provisions of the National Labor Relations Act and do away with the requirement that they hold national elections under the terms of the Railway Labor Act. Rival UPS's drivers are already represented by the Teamsters, which hailed the measure's passage."

At the heart of the issue is whether or not FedEx should still be governed under the Railway Labor Act. BrownBailout.com points out that other airlines, railways and shipping companies are regulated under this provision. In other words, should FedEx be considered an airline or a shipping company?

From BrownBailout.com:

"Lobbyists for UPS - the largest giver to U.S. lawmakers - buried a bailout into the FAA reauthorization bill that would switch FedEx Express from the RLA to the National Labor Relations Act, under which trucking companies like UPS fall.

This would force FedEx Express - widely considered one of America's best run companies - to change its business structure. UPS is trying to improve its own market position by creating disruption to its chief competitor."

What do you think? Does the bill amount to a bailout for UPS? Is FedEx being honest about why it opposses the FAA Reautorization Act? Should the government be bailing out shipping companies like UPS?

UPDATE:
George Will chimes in on the FedEx-UPS rift in his Washington Post column today. Will's in full support of FedEx's cause, and excoriates the government for even considering a de facto UPS bailout. Here's Will's take:

"What UPS is doing is called rent-seeking -- bending public power for private advantage by hindering a competitor...If Congress makes FedEx's operations more precarious by changing the law to make it easier for local disputes to cripple its operations, Smith says a multibillion-dollar order for 15 Boeing 777s will be automatically canceled. One of the unions lobbying on behalf of UPS and the Teamsters is the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, whose members make 777s."

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Comments

[youtubeit]

03:22 PM on 07/18/2009

this economy is in such deep *&^ yet Obamma & Summers live on another astral plane, unwilling to aknowledge reality, even though 995 of Americans expiernceit and KNoW what's going on, and are tired of the BS.

good articles: http://www.iamned.com

[betty22]

08:15 PM on 07/17/2009

fedex is a great company.......UPS is part of the government.....hmmmmmmm do I see favoritism......your being duped

[mntnguy]

12:08 AM on 07/18/2009

UPS is not part of the government!

[KataVideo]

01:18 AM on 07/18/2009

ups is NOT NOT NOT part of the government. where would you get such an idea?

[jimrs6]

04:01 PM on 07/17/2009

Fedex is "widely considered one of America's best run companies". No wonder Obama and Dems want to destroy it.

[mntnguy]

12:17 AM on 07/18/2009

Right because that would make sure the democrats stay in the majority for the next 30 years! and all those America hating, welfare state liberal democrats could have it all!

The GOP and Fox news brainwashing has was a complete success with this one!

[KataVideo]

01:20 AM on 07/18/2009

considered, by whom? the usual corporate conservatard suspects who screw up everything else in America? the ones who ran the economy into the ground?
the Dems want to destroy it? where do you get these ideas?

[IbeHappy]

01:50 PM on 07/17/2009

Did I miss something or would not UPS have to operate under the same laws as FedEx and they already are fully Teamster-ized?

[mntnguy]

12:20 AM on 07/18/2009

exactly the union issues is a smoke screen! they simply want to be regulated as an airline under the FAA and not as a cargo company. the union issue is just to distract you. The bill simply put them under the correct categorization! I don't know anyone who thinks Fed Ex is an airline. They do operate many planes but so does UPS,USPS,and LBC

[One more Thing]

01:31 PM on 07/17/2009

If FDX wants to win its case all they have to do is offer a greater payoff to Congress than UPS and the Teamsters and other unions.

In Washington everything is for sale to the highest bidder!

[KataVideo]

01:10 PM on 07/17/2009

I ship stuff all of the time.. with the U.S. Post Office. IT'S CHEAPER AND MORE EFFICIENT.

Let's solve this spat between the CEO's of UPS and FedEx the only honorable way... Thunderdome.

[IbeHappy]

01:51 PM on 07/17/2009

And, you don't have to pay a third party (Kinkos, UPS Store) additional money to hand the package over to the shipper when you use the Postal Service.

[mntnguy]

12:23 AM on 07/18/2009

you don't have to pay extra with UPS or Fed ex as long as you do it in one of there locations. the places you have to pay are owned by private third parties and you are paying for the convenience of not having to drive to there location and wait in there lines. You also have to pay extra for the USPS at mail boxes ect!

[spinns17]

11:08 AM on 07/17/2009

http://www.teamster.org/content/fedex-threatens-%E2%80%98destroy%E2%80%99-members-congress

[felisa11]

11:01 AM on 07/17/2009

UPS paid repub group 2 to 3 million dollars to lobby for them. enough said.

[felisa11]

10:59 AM on 07/17/2009

The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a $2 million check in return for the group's endorsement in a bitter legislative dispute, then flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay.

[unite4change]

10:06 AM on 07/17/2009

FYI,

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25072.html

[elsieach]

09:50 AM on 07/17/2009

This is just FedEx's swan song. They can't compete fairly, so they use this attack gambit instead of formulating a workable business plan to retain customers.

FedEx is no longer welcome in my office. I'll use Brown exclusively.

Not a real smart move, FedEx - you've alienated a lot of people with this campaign. Negativism is not a winning approach. If you have a product that's superior, tout it's praises - don't criticize your competition without having better solutions - does that sound familiar? Maybe like what's been going on in Washington for 6 months? Criticize, be negative, but never offer a viable, better solution. Pffft.

Go Brown.

[felisa11]

10:57 AM on 07/17/2009

Ups is bought and paid for by the repugs. Fed ex is right on this issue.

Ups is using underhanded and lowdown practices to cover their real motives, vintage repubs

[mntnguy]

12:28 AM on 07/18/2009

Ups is bought and paid for by the repugs. Fed ex is right on this issue.

?

Are you high? Fed ex is not a Airline! it is a shipping company! all they did was change the regulations to regulate it as a shipping company and not an airline!

Fed ex thinks that the American people are dumb and need to be fooled and brainwashed into believing what ever it is they want. Hum that really does sound like the GOP. The stupid conservative union simply over valued there endorsement. # years ago it was worth a great deal more today much like the GOP it is worthless.

[laborgrunt]

03:32 PM on 07/18/2009

FedEx is horrible and I have never used it. They pay their workers (whom they refer to as contractors) crap and no benefits.
Go Brown!

[itschuck2c]

04:09 PM on 07/18/2009

Those contractors sign a contract. They know going in what to expect.

[mamacat]

12:59 AM on 07/17/2009

During the Republican years, Bush's people put Fed Ex in all of the United States Post Offices. I guess that was fair and balanced, in the eyes of Fed Ex? Sounds pretty much like an unfair bailout of FedEX to me.

UPS makes its people work hard, but has paid vacations, overtime pay, paid holidays, company-provided healthcare, an employee stock plan, has the most alternative-fuel vehicles of any company in the nation, and makes fully-funded contributions to a Union-controlled retirement plan. Can FedEx compare to that? I didn't think so.

[itschuck2c]

07:53 AM on 07/17/2009

Lets see I work for FDX Express, which is the only FDX company this legislation will affect.

I get overtime pay for anything over 40 hours, at a rate of 1.5 times normal pay. If you work more than 12 hours in a day is doubletime. Work a 6 day week and that 6th day is time and half , work 7 days in a week and that 7th day is doubletime (which can happen at xmas), 5 weeks paid vacation, 2 paid personal days, 2 paid floating holidays and 5 company paid holidays. I have dental, medical and eyeglass care. 5 dollar prscriptions and a doctors visit is 20 bucks. We also have a stock plan and a 401k plan. By the way I make 23 bucks an hour.

Yes FDX can compare to UPS.

[IbeHappy]

01:53 PM on 07/17/2009

I'm just asking, but what does your counterpart at UPS get paid in moneys and benefits so I can say that you are on equal footing?

[just1kelley]

03:29 PM on 07/17/2009

Just how is it that this will adversely affect you? Why would it be easier for UPS and harder for you to be governed under the same labor laws?

And what about all of your "independant contractors"? What kind of pay and benefits do they receive from FedEx?

[donna16]

10:56 AM on 07/17/2009

Thank you for that, I am a UPS driver.Your right on all counts.,and so is the comment before you>

[John Horner]

08:16 PM on 07/16/2009

FedEx is being more than a little disingenuous here. As I understand it, the change would put FedEx and UPS on equal footing visa-vis labor laws. It seems that FedEx is the one trying to game the system for advantage.

FedEx Ground is tied up in multiple lawsuits over its pretense that its drivers are all independent contractors and that FedEx thus didn't have to pay Social Security, Disability Insurance and such on them. The court battle on that rages on. FedEx consistently does everything possible to bend the rules in its favor, and now is pitching a hissy fit that one of its preferences might go away.

[Servility]

08:40 AM on 07/17/2009

If it is really about being "fair," why not switch UPS to the RLA?

[breakingpoint]

07:38 PM on 07/16/2009

talk to your FEDEX guy and your UPS guy
I'll say this FEDEX guys are much nicer than UPS guys
but the FEDEX employees are treated pretty awful

I think FEDEX has joined with Starbucks and a few other corps to squash this union bill

ALL Americans should have a right to unionize

[local21]

06:32 PM on 07/16/2009

Glad I read the article, I didn't realize Fed Ex was non union.

I'm going Brown.