[jessduntno]

FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) may have been part of the reason for the rally late today that took markets into positive territory. Headlines hit late in the day on the Dow Jones broad tape from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller, a Democrat, saying that the proposed legislation that would make it easier for FedEx workers to unionize has no chance of passing in Congress. This is an issue we have followed for some time. United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) is mostly unionized and is the number one competitor for FedEx. If these workers in aviation and trucking are placed under the National Labor Relations Act, it would then be on the same ground (no pun intended) as UPS.

Some have maintained that if those workers are allowed to unionize that the cost would be thousands of dollars per employee per month. Those costs are not necessarily just out-of-pocket costs based upon the potential of higher wages and higher benefits, but include the opportunity cost of less business per employee. It is a safe bet that calculations vary greatly from source to source.

There is a risk of jobs cuts at stake and there is the issue of a per-employee cost… An article from Scripps in 2009 noted, “Thousands of FedEx’s 290,000 employees would be affected and some analysts say the company’s expenses would increase 30 percent as a result of unionization.”

The silver lining for shareholders is the dividend implications if this labor issue is resolved. We noted after the dividend was just raised that FedEx’s dividend could stand to be greatly raised. Then FedEx will need to catch up to UPS in its dividend. At the time of the hike, FedEx’s dividend yield was brought to about 0.62% versus nearly 3% for shareholders of rival UPS.

Taking either side of the argument for or against unions is a tricky case. Management wants things the way they are now. A union often demands more for labor. Anyhow, you know the arguments on each side. As far as how things turned out with the stock being the judge… FedEx shares closed up $0.04 at $78.11, but they were down at the lows of the day at $77.13 around the time that the comments made by Rockefeller hit the tape.

If you ask why FedEx might have been part of reason for the rally rationale… It is rather simple, even if the argument does not want to be heard by many. When unions have one big win, the belief on the capital side of the labor versus capital equation has the belief that other big union fights will then appear elsewhere. And one big loss from one of America’s top employers, that in turn might calm some fears that more unions fights will arise rapidly.

Read more: FedEx, The Union-Buster? (FDX, UPS) - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2010/06/17/fedex-the-union-buster-fdx-ups/#ixzz0zYanK0dd

[driftdiver]

I won’t willingly use UPS anymore because of the union and poor service.

[mnehring]

Very interesting.
Several other options to think of:
It could be a pretty aggressive skip tracer getting information on the business or someone else in it.

Corporate espionage. It is more common than you realize.

A freak with delusions.

You’ll probably have the best instincts based on your business.

[onona]

Legal Action ?

[tutstar]

bump

[hgro]

290,000 monthly union dues has the labor thugs drooling.

Its all about money and power. Workers are just a minor annoyance.

[Keith in Iowa]

If you have the woman’s name - call the cops, press trespassing charges.

[STARWISE]

BUMP!! That damn union thug, invading
your private business with her demands !!

So this is all about trying to unionize
Fedex .. and UPS, whom you use, is already
unionized? Then, I still don’t get the
reason she’d harrass you (but I’ve yet
to eat dinner, so my brain is not working
at warp speed).

Excuse my dipity dumbness right now...;).

[Falcon28]

You may want to send this story to the folks over at BigGovernment.com

[johngrace]

I was in the business for 24 years. There is two sides to a story. I was a pro-business Teamster. There are Dirty companies and Good companies. There are Dirty unions( I hated when they tell me who to vote for) and good unions.

Fred Smith "bribes" and lends out Leisure planes to politicians. Just look it up.

Full timers who worked 40 hours are dropped to 35 hours so there are no full time requirements. He is a "louse". He plays games all the time with workers.

I personally had my shipping dropbox moved because Fred Smith had a hissy fit because ours was next to his dropbox in the Long Island Marriot near the Islanders Colisiuem in NY. He is a "bum".

[USNBandit]

If the lady said she was working with DHS under false pretenses call the Joint Intake Center, 1-877-2INTAKE (1-877-246-8253.) They take complaints about bad agents, so I would imagine they can help you with people pretending to be working with in support of the government.

[Vicki]

Thanks for the update.

[org.whodat]

He tried to point out to her that she had just walked through a door that was pretty clearly marked as for employees only and she waved that off and produced a business card that said she was a UPS Representative.

Firmly grasp her by the back of the neck with the left hand, and the seat of the pants with the right and throw her ass out. End of problem.

[tarawa]

UPS lost pretty much all their business with the state of Texas this year. Their contracts were not renewed because of their prices and intractability. We moved to Lone Star Overnight and saved more than half, packages get there overnight, and they actually respond to service issues. Getting rid of UPS was one of the best decisions the state made.