United Liberty

Unionized workers for UPS are allegedly being forced to write lawmakers urging the passage of legislation that would force FedEx to adhere to stricter labor practices:

In an increasingly bitter Washington battle between the nation’s two largest shipping companies, some unionized UPS workers say they are being forced to write letters to their lawmakers in support of more stringent labor rules for archrival FedEx.

Officials with UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents 240,000 UPS drivers, acknowledge that the company has paid for workers’ time to pen many of the letters and has supplied the envelopes, paper and stamps needed to mail thousands of them to Congress. UPS spokesman Malcolm Berkley said the effort was “totally voluntary, and any allegations to the contrary are ridiculous.”

But Internet sites dedicated to UPS-related discussions feature dozens of accounts from anonymous employees who have said they were forced to write the letters or felt they would be punished. Such tactics could run afoul of both labor laws and lobbying disclosure requirements, according to legal experts.

Memphis-based FedEx and the office of Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) also have received e-mails, calls and letters from UPS employees alleging intimidation by the union or UPS supervisors, according to FedEx officials and an Alexander aide.

Scott Dennis, one of those who contacted FedEx by e-mail, said he was a part-time loader at a UPS facility in Greensboro, N.C., when he was pulled into a room with other employees and told to write letters in support of the legislation. Instead, he said, he wrote a letter critical of government intervention and quit in disgust a week later.

George Will touched on this last month, giving a history of the dispute between the two parcel carriers and pointing out that this is nothing more than rent-seeking by UPS.

Yes, these are the same people that say card-check, misnamed the Employee Free Choice Act, would be good for workers. When force is involved, as it is alleged above, there is nothing free about it and I find it laughable that labor leaders suggest that they won’t use coercion to unionize.