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Return to Article: Democrats might rewrite contractor law

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  As a Single Work Area contractor I knew what I was getting into. I read the cotract and understood what it said. In most business dealings I've had the contract settles disputes but, for the most part, common sense prevails. UNTIL FEDEX!

  Why does a terminal have twice as many P&D managers as pre-load managers? Fedex loads every package and they pick up and deliver none. Doesn't that seem a misallocation of resourses?

  Every business in the world has a mission. Fedex Ground wants to be "the best small parcel delivery company in the industry." If you want to BE that, don't you have to DO that? If they spent that time and energy on training sufficient numbers of loaders to do that job right, the first time, everyone-including Fedex, would make more money.

  Their failure to do this, in violation of their end of the operating agreement, LOWERS THE VALUE OF EVERY CONTRACTORS BUSINESS.

  I don't think Fedex is greedy, I think they are missing an opportunity to be great.

  Stupid is as stupid does; and they do things that are STUPID.

  Steve Posted March 24, 2009 1:31 PM
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  All of you that want this change in contract law, What do you think a company like FedEx is going to do? Hire the contractors and give them good pay with benefits (I think Not)OR maybe put another 15,000 American workers on the street with out work! That will be Great for our economy. WAKE UP The Government isn't fixing anything.. to many hands in the pot. What will fix this Country is bring jobs back to America. Pay people a good living wage (not excessive) to do a days work. Make the cost of living affordable. Throwing Trillions of dollars at the wall hoping it will stick is not going to work. Get Americans back to work and we will prosper.

  JD Posted March 19, 2009 3:23 PM
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  RPS is when I started as a contractor and still doing it 9 trucks 8 employees later. I have seen alot happen both good and bad but Fedex Ground is truly run as a contract company. Lets say you own a small store and you feel ill that day what are going to do? True business owners have plans for any possible situation, and it takes a certain animal to work in the field of driving and hustling packages. I was local Pres. of our Union WHAT A JOKE eat outs, nice cars,the union will pay NOPE the members will pay. LEAVE MY JOB ALONE go organize McDonald"s

  marc Posted February 21, 2009 12:20 AM
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  I've worked for a newspaper company for nearly 30 years with most of these years as an employee with health, pension, 401k etc. About five years ago they went to an independent contractor system with an almost 20 page contract. In the last two years this is the type of workplace we are in. We have managers who walk to our leased bench space and question us over every complaint suggesting we bring the paper to their door. They decide the pay and the terms on a take it or leave it basis while cutting pay each contract. Most routes now get 7 cents per paper daily and 10 cents per paper Sunday. They charge us for complaints for missing papers, wet papers and not doing any customer request such as to door delivery etc. The problem is that the CSRs downtown offer nearly every customer who gets missed door delivery. One of my routes has 50+ homes who want door delivery out of 150 total customers. Even when they make mistakes they never fix them. We don't get the papers until at least 3am (quite often closer to 4am) and we are expected to finish by 6am. Most routes if you follow special requests (or take tons of complaints) cannot be done in this timeframe.

  Sorry but if this isn't abusing a loophole what the heck is. We are clearly more controlled as contractors than we were as an employee.

  Aaron Posted February 18, 2009 1:02 AM
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  This all sounds like a Socialist party meeting. Everyone wants to blame someone else for their problems. Get off your butt and change your life if you don't like it. If you want to know who is to blame for your lot in life, look in the mirror.

  Steve Posted February 15, 2009 1:12 PM
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  fedex has abused the owner operator concept to the max,when they tell you the color,size,model of truck to buy,how many stops per day with no reguard for how many hours it takes,cant take anybody elses work,have to pay them for vacation,cant take off even if doctor orders and the list goes on if you dont have a buisness plan that suits them you will be forced out either by threats,overwork etc wake up this is not independant contractor

  canter Posted February 13, 2009 12:32 PM
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  As a fomer contractor myself I can attest to the greed Fed Ex exhibits in its business practice. No respect for the law, whether individual or corporate and no respect for the safety of its contractors. Lwas were repeatedly broken, knowingly and wittingly every day in order to keep up with demand. In no way were we allowed to set our own hours or our own workload. Hopefully Fed Ex will pay individuals and the government what justice demands.

  Tim Posted February 12, 2009 7:16 PM
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  how about newspaper carriers and what the news industry is doing to us. We are in the same boat as all of the Fed Ex contractors. I hope someone will use drastic powers and change that. It's like legal slavery here in the United States.

  Nancy Posted February 9, 2009 5:23 AM
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  For all of the folks who support FedEx and their independent contractor scam, I two questions. Are you that blind, stupid, or just too broke to quit that you back this company that works your butt off to net less than $30,000 while their execs sit in their cushy $800 office chair and net millions? Is the status of "independent contractor" worth that much money to work for that little money? It is a sad state of affairs. I am not pro union, but if it weren't for the unions, we'd all be working from sunup till sundown for pennies a day, starting at age 12. If you want to work that cheap, China and Bangladesh are looking for fools. We certainly don't need the tax and spend change that we got with the last election, but we do need to take our country back from big business and their bed partner, the US government. The results of the last election certainly do say something for the intelligence, or more appropriately lack of, and apathy of the Amerikan people. Apathy is only one step away from slavery.

  Bob Posted January 26, 2009 3:43 PM
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  I do not believe that Fedex deserves any credit what-so-ever! Whoever said that fedex threatened the managers jobs if the contractors became employees, is just blowing smoke. I personally had things said to me by a fedex manager that should of costed him his job. I saw with my own eyes the constant unprofessional attitude that was carried out from day to day. Rude comments made about other contractors. Threats that were made. If these managers had an ounce of concern or consideration for any of the contractors. Fedex would not be in the mess they are in today. The one and only definition for Fedex and its managers is and always will be no matter what happens, will always be GREED!! The contractors are what keeps fedex operating. Without the contractors, you have nothing. Fedex needs contractors to fill there pockets, so don't you think if they had any brains, they would try to be professional and treat people equally without discrimination, or harassment? But they don't care and never will, remember that. Greed is what fedex is about.

  Kelly Posted January 20, 2009 5:41 PM
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  I do not believe that Fedex deserves any credit what-so-ever! Whoever said that fedex threatened the managers jobs if the contractors became employees, is just blowing smoke. I personally had things said to me by a fedex manager that should of costed him his job. I saw with my own eyes the constant unprofessional attitude that was carried out from day to day. Rude comments made about other contractors. Threats that were made. If these managers had an ounce of concern or consideration for any of the contractors. Fedex would not be in the mess they are in today. The one and only definition for Fedex and its managers is and always will be no matter what happens, will always be GREED!! The contractors are what keeps fedex operating. Without the contractors, you have nothing. Fedex needs contractors to fill there pockets, so don't you think if they had any brains, they would try to be professional and treat people equally without discrimination, or harassment? But they don't care and never will, remember that. Greed is what fedex is about.

  Kelly Posted January 20, 2009 5:41 PM
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  For those of you who were just drivers, like Tim. Obviously you do not know the whole story. You are not in the contractors shoes. You did not pay thousands of dollars for a route. You do not know anything about the contractors rights. So why don't you shut your pie hole?

  Kelly Posted January 20, 2009 5:08 PM
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  I've been with Fedex for a number of years now! I use to own three routes and employed a couple of drivers. I've always kept an open mind about the idea of being an employee instead of an owner operator. If the courts classify us as employees of Fedex then Fedex has already told their managers they would be fired! So they have their incentive to talk to us about how wonderful it is to be an independent contractors. There are many UPS drivers that don't appreciate the way the Union treats them. Your going to have conflict no matter which way this battle goes. I though no longer stand on the fence, last summer my grandfather passed away, I had set a driver up to take my position over for two days. On his way to work the first day while I was 200 miles away he got into an accident and couldn't make it in. Management told me that my route couldn't just sit and I'd better do something or I would be violating my contract and there would be consequences. During this time of crisis I spent a lot of money and begged other contractors for help. Thankfully they came through for me. That was my turning point though, a few months later I sold my routes and now work for a fellow contractor. I don't blame anyone but myself for being part of this great scheme. I know Fedex could be a great company again that right now has a lot of good managers, we're competitive and hard working individuals but we need change we're begging to be equal to our counterparts at UPS, to have job security, sick time, vacations and most important emergency leave. thank you.

  Joe Posted January 12, 2009 6:14 PM
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  I worked as a temp driver for FedEx Home Delivery over the holidays and though I worked my buns off, it was a great experience. I worked for UPS in the past and to be honest, the union has ruined that company. My contractor set his own hours (not days, we worked tues to sat), I never had anyone telling me what to do, it was great. You had a job to do and you did it. It's that simple. Those that are complaining about FedEx or any other company for that matter obviously are employed elsewhere, Shoot, in these tough times, I'm happy to have employment at all. Quit yer bitchin and get to work.

  Tim Posted January 6, 2009 7:00 PM
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  The FedEx independent contractor business model is absolutely the biggest scam in the country. You do not have any control over "your business" at all. FedEx controls everything. You are an employee in every sense of the definition. I wanted to be an independent contractor and believe that any company has the right to use contractors if they want as long as they treat them as contractors. FedEx wants the best of both worlds, classify us as contractors to escape paying payroll taxes, benefits, etc. and still control us by dictating our work day, hours, time off, who we can hire, etc. I really loved the work, stayed for 6 years hoping it would change, but it just got worse. After 5 1/2 years of dedicated loyal service, no accidents, no customer complaints, I was hospitalized with an anuerysm. It meant nothing to them. The day after surgery there were repeated messages telling me I was not properly managing my route and needed to report to work the next day. After six months I decide not to let these people ruin me and I decided to hire an additional driver and buy a second truck to handle the increased growth of my route. FedEx said my person was not eligible for hire but were going to REQUIRE me to hire on of their temporary hires for the Christmas rush. That was it. I,m gone! Good Riddance

  Ken Posted January 4, 2009 9:29 PM
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  Having been an employee of FedExOffice, that used to be Kinko's if anyone remembers that FedEx wanted to expand it's reach beyond shipping. Having worked for a company (Kinko's) that put it's people first and would try to work with everyone through any problems to correct things and try to make sure you keep your job, they didn't want to have to train new people so they tried to keep the people they had. Now FedEx on the other had has made life working there unbearable. It seemed the more you tried to make things better for your store when things were bleak and looks like the whole place was falling down but there are people who were dedacated to their job whom everyone else thought they would be rewarded for their efforts. Instead they were repramanded and life was made unbearable at work till one of the people quit but the other held on. I was that other one. I held on for 5 years. I have been put down by managers who never worked with me yet praised by customers every day. I brought huge customers into the store and nurtured a working relationship with them yet still when review time came around they focused of the fact that I wore 2 pairs of earrings and have a toung ring. Because we all know that effects the way we work. Sorry, went off on a tangent. But back to what I was starting with, when the company was Kinko's if you messed up, 1st you got a warning-strike 1 the 2nd time you got a write up and a week of unpaid leave and 3rd time you were gone. But because Kinko's cared for it's employees they wanted to why you were doing what you were doing and if there was anything they could do to held. When fedEx took over it was all about profit. They look at numbers if sales were not associated with your number, you got canned. regardless if the big sales were your doing but rung out on someone elses number. Sorry ranting. Also any company who goes and fires people the week before the holidays needs to be boycotted.

  Disgruntled ex employee Posted December 25, 2008 2:16 PM
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  Lets get real...the almighty FedEx controls 100% of the single route drivers day. Day in and day out. WE ARE EMPLOYEES FOLKS! Without the benefits and being made complete fools of. This bait and switch scam needs to come to an end NOW. Good thing McCain and his buddy Fred Smith didn't pair up. We'd all be screwed! It's time FedEx paid for their own crap to run these routes!

  Screwed Posted December 19, 2008 3:11 PM
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  Arn't the unions getting sued for not representing their people? Nobody hears about that. Or what about the downfall of of the US auto industry because they couldn't afford union demands. The Japanese companies seem to be doing fine. Fedex contractors don't get employee pay. The ones that do an average days work get around 100,000 a year. More than enough to pay for what they need.

  Bill Posted December 18, 2008 4:54 PM
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  This message is about what Tigerhawk had to say. I was just wondering if you have ever watched the news? Fedex owes the irs millions of dollars. Are they doing anything about it? Not yet! And just recently on the news, it was reported that the IRS was paying $2000.00 to illegal citizens who were coming over here with fake id's. Do you think the IRS is trying to fix that? Is the government trying to stop this madness with fake id's and illegal citizens. Im a citizen and the irs would do everything in there power to bury me.They tell you that it is there duty to tell us what the laws are. No they like to play there little scare tactics on you. And threaten you with wage garnishments. Why are so many illegal citizens not paying taxes? Because the border is a swinging gate.

  Suzan Posted December 12, 2008 7:32 PM
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  I think it is about time that something is done about these money grabbing thieves. I was a fedex contractor. And I went through hell with fedex from day one. I was never treated like a contractor I was always treated like an employee, well not even that, more like a dog!-OH except when it came time for me to fix my truck or rent a truck for deliveries, Or when I was ill. Almost every week I was told "You are a contractor!" I was told what to do and if I tried to do things my way as an independant contractor should-Fedex would make things worse for me. They had control. I worked my tail off everyday, I never saw daylight when I got done working..rarely that is. And this bull about weight limit is a lie too. There is no weight limit. I know for a fact. Before I started this so-called contractor joke I thought fedex was wonderful. I don't have any respect for any company like Fedex that takes advantage of the name "independant contractor" to stuff there pockets. Thats right Fedex uses the contractor name so that they do not have to pay for all the gasoline. The wear and tear on the vehicles or the cost of tires and chains when needed, is the contractors expense, also healthcare-Another added bonus for fedex, they do not have to pay that either. Wow I'll sign up for that! And thats Exactly what they did and for all you fedex contractors out there, when are you going to stop being there puppets? And for any other contractors, I understand, maybe your situation is wonderful and you love being a contractor Im happy for you. But If you haven't walked a mile in these guys shoes, whether it be long haul truck drivers or any kind of hard honest working individuals who are being treated like slaves and are not labeled as employees, please don't judge! I can't wait for the lawsuit to be final and hopefully with Obama's help this lawsuit will be over sooner than Fedex hopes it will. Of course if they had it there way the lawsuit would go on and on and on and on forever. It's about time that people are treated and respected for there hard work like human beings should be treated.

  Suzan Posted December 12, 2008 7:09 PM
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  I have been a contractor for almost 15 years, not in the history of being a contractor have I had the pleasure of setting my own hours or hiring who I pleased. They always have to be "approved" by the management. We used to be called independant contractors now it's called our operating agreement. And our health insurance is 750 a month.

  Tommy Posted December 10, 2008 10:15 PM
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  The problem that I see in my industry is when you have a contract with a company they need to adhere to it. Some companies will adjust their contract for someone new getting in, but will then treat everyone if they are under that new agreement

  I also agree with the comment of 'independent bill of rights' is needed

  mark tebor Posted December 9, 2008 7:15 AM
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  Large companies used to treat employees well. In my case a union is needed as they froze our pension, increased health care costs for terrible benefits, can and have fired persons for ludicrous reasons. We have no recourse to these actions and with a union this would have not happened.

  roger smith Posted December 6, 2008 8:12 PM
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  Your all nuts..I would rather have the (OUR) government (that is ultimately answerable to the people) make the laws (by a democratic process) than let the damn corporations (who are NOT answerable to the people) make the laws....in case you are not bright enough to figure it out..Corporations were (effectively) the government in Mussolini's Italy..its called fascism..you fools...(and it spread to Hitler's Germany)

  Chabuka Posted December 4, 2008 2:18 PM
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  Unionize - that's the answer. It's what made Chrysler, GM, and Ford so successful during this economic downturn (facetious, in case you couldn't pick up on that). Unions have done more harm than good - where they were once necessary, they are no longer. All unions do is decimate companies - Boeing has been killed by repeated strikes. The SAG continues to kill television by going on strike every other week.

  If 99% of the country is non-unionized and are judged on how we perform within the context of our job, why exactly do we need unions? To overpay undeserving people for remedial tasks that don't deserve it? To protect them by being fired by making it impossible to get rid of those who are not performing? To continue to pay them when they lost their job rather than file for unemployment insurance like the rest of us?

  If I were in the position where I had to either accept a union's demands or get rid of them, I'd do exactly what the NFL did - call in those who are willing to work. With unemployed at a high not seen in more than a decade, I'm sure there would be plenty of people in line waiting to take a job.

  jay Posted December 4, 2008 1:02 PM
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  If you think the economy is bad now, pass this law. What happened to business 11 years ago when UPS when on strike. How many small businesses went under? What companies are surviving right now? Union, Ford, GM, Chrysler. Non union - Toyota, Honda, FEDEX. If contractors don't like it they have the option to leave. It's called Freedom. O', I'm sorry you can't have that. Mike

  Mike Posted December 4, 2008 9:44 AM
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  Joe, if you work overseas WHY should you have to pay taxes to the US? I live in China and have previously been an independent contractor. I already have to pay Chinese taxes, why should I have to pay BOTH?

  Everyone else, just look at what unions have done to the auto industry! We keep losing manufacturing and service jobs overseas because American companies are becoming less competitive. Just look at the stock of FedEx and other companies that have independent (FREE) contractors. Do we really want to punish these companies?

  Zach Posted December 4, 2008 12:41 AM
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  56 million people wanted "change" and now some of them are waking up to smell the coffee. Surprise Surprise! If you voted for a liberal president-elect looking for "change," then you are getting what you voted for ... "change" but maybe not what you thought. America wake up before it is too late.

  Bernard Cane Posted December 3, 2008 8:07 PM
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  Your so right... we should not let our (Democratically elected, of the people, by the people, for the people, answerable to the people) government make decisions for us..we should let corporations like FedEx, Exxon-Mobile, G.E., Military contractors etc. (not..answerable to the people) make our decisions for us......it worked so well in "Mussolini's Italy"....

  chabuka Posted December 3, 2008 4:59 PM
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  This is why I watch fox news words such as misclassifie, skirt taxes, deprive workers, billions of revenue lost, I thought that they were not forced to work for these companies, but they voluntarily work. I do not want a government that will direct me how to run my business. Hey disgruntled ground workers work for ups or fedex exress. Remember, America, the government will take away your rights after they take away Companies rights, through taxation.

  juanita goble Posted December 2, 2008 2:57 AM
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  As an independent contractor with a major package delivery company i do not want government "fixing" this problem. I do, however, wish government would enact an independent contractor "bill of rights". If I sign a contract that I have no say in, am I an independent contractor or a mis-labled employee? Isn't a contract a negotiation between two entities?

  MW Posted December 1, 2008 5:16 PM
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  As an independant contractor, what right does the government have to tell me that I am too stupid to run my own business? That is the implication here. Independants can't possibly take care of themselves, arrange for healthcare, pay their taxes and such - isn't that the message. To assume that I HAVE to be a full-time employee of the company I contract to is not what I want! My performance, my income, my expenses are my responsibility and that is the way I want it. I have to pay taxes, my healthcare insurance, liability insurance and every other expense associated with running a business. This is a blatent attempt by the Democrats to bloat the unions and destroy personal responsibility. True Americans are tired of the welfare-state and large government that continues to want to run our lives. I say STAY OUT. We don't need more government - we need less! I will take care of myself - if I want to be someone else's employee - that should be my choice not the governements.

  NJCO Posted December 1, 2008 5:00 PM
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  Arclight: Thanks! It's refreshing to have a position backed up by reason or logic and not simply "This is gonna happen because I say so".

  Okay, so I understand the higher cost to government in terms of enforcement by the IRS, but that cost is inherent mainly and only if those companies start operating illegally, against this proposed law. But wouldn't simple math deduce that the income would be greater than the cost of monitoring and enforcing that income? We'd be talking hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars in increased revenue where the payroll that would be going out for enforcing that revenue would likely be only in the lower millions. Sure, the cost to government would be going up, but the income to government would be going up at a much higher ratio. So are you referring simply to that ratio or all the other factors as well in your most recent post?

  Thanks for the discussion. This is refreshing.

  Tigerhawk Posted November 26, 2008 10:04 AM
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  The primary reason to classify more individuals as employees rather than contractors is to strengthen the justification for collective-bargaining agreements (i.e. unions) with the businesses in question; increases in such agreements also benefit the Democrat party.

  It seems to me that the business community should add up the costs of doing that vs. the costs of universal government-funded health care and choose the lesser of the two costs (since if the government provides universal health care, one of the primary reasons for being an employee of a company vanishes). It may well be that universal health care, as expensive as it may be, may actually be a better choice. The reason is that there's little hope that a heavily-unionized business base can possibly hope to rapidly innovate. Unions by definition mean contracts, which will require attorneys to negotiate and interpret. The slide in union membership occurred at about the same time that litigious behavior begain its large ramp-up; a large increase in union power today will inevitably be accompanied by ever-larger numbers of attorneys out to "aggressively represent the interests of their client", whether that's a union or a business. The use of the law as a weapon to the extent it is used today is a change from the last days of real union power in the 50s and 60s, and is collectively going to result in large delays injected into all labor negotiations. This is going to significantly slow down any innovation within business, because it has to be covered by the union contract. The loss of the ability to innovate quickly is a real cost, and is probably a larger cost than the loss of income due to taxation for health care. Protectionism is one way to work around the costs associated with slow to nonexistent innovation, albeit at higher costs to the end-user (who is also being taxed more heavily to pay for health care).

  Unions also bring with them their own issues. History records the criminal acts of the Teamsters and other unions in years gone by; I presume we can expect to see similar acts again in the future, because human nature has not changed for the better, and respect for the rule of law has, if anything, diminished.

  It should be entertaining in a sick sort of way to see all this unfold again.

  arclight Posted November 25, 2008 9:50 AM
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  @Tigerhawk: Since in this case the law currently supports the classification that those sources of income are using (if it were an illegal activity the IRS would have moved in years ago), this proposed change, if enacted, will amount to an increase in the cost of government. That's simple logic, not partisan dung. Whether or not one views this as a good thing or not is immaterial to whether or not it is accurate.

  arclight Posted November 25, 2008 9:49 AM
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  This is absolutely absurd. These business owners are just trying to stay away from our tax happy government. I have been an independent contractor since I graduated college. I do not receive any benefits of an actual employee but I am self employed and have been able to learn how to run my own business while paying taxes. Big government control and unions is not the way to go. Unions are terrible for the free market and they are showing their GREED right now with the auto industry crisis.

  Austin Posted November 24, 2008 9:33 PM
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  Okay, so someone tell me this: With the comments that been posted, how, exactly, does collecting millions more in tax revenue per year equate to a higher cost in government? Or is this just more partisan knee-jerk dung?

  And yeah, Dan, I only go to work about three hours a week, get paid for 40 and still use no leave whatsoever, ya know, as I really don't ever feel like doing a thing...good lord.

  Tigerhawk Posted November 24, 2008 3:13 PM
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  As an NFIB and small business owner I FULLY SUPPORT Obama in fixing this issue. I regret that the Chamber of Commerce and the NFIB support the underground economy at the expense of legitimate businesses

  Tom Williams Posted November 22, 2008 11:07 AM
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  Hmmmm! Maybe its time for a National Union...one size fits all. The new agency could be called "The Department of Unions". That way the Union could make up good rules.

  JM Posted November 21, 2008 12:04 PM
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  Will this mean a big change for CS?? They act as if they are independent contractors, come and go as they please work when it suits them, this could have a major impact on work habits in CS

  dan ketter Posted November 21, 2008 10:42 AM
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  And how about finally closing the loophole that allows contractors stationed overseas to make big bucks while not paying a dime in federal taxes? It amounts to a multi-million dollar subsidy for defense contractors ... a free ride paid ultimately paid for by the plumper Joes of America. If these contractors work on overseas US military bases then make them pay taxes just like all military and government civilians do now.

  Joe Posted November 21, 2008 5:19 AM
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  .... as the cost of the government goes even higher under the Obama administration!

  Change we can believe in!

  Tom Posted November 20, 2008 1:52 PM