Nat’l Labor Relations Bd. v. FedEx Freight, Inc.

At the Stockton, California inland seaport, FedEx employs 50 truck drivers and 27 dockworkers, who use forklifts to load and unload trucks. A Teamsters Local wanted to organize the drivers. FedEx argued that the local should also represent the dockworkers because the drivers and the dockworkers share a community of interest. The NLRB concluded that a drivers-only unit was proper and submitted the issue to a secret-ballot election of the drivers, who voted to be represented by the union. The Seventh Circuit affirmed certification of the bargaining unit, citing 29 U.S.C. 159(a). The court noted the dissimilarity in working conditions; drivers work full time, dockworkers only part time; drivers are paid about twice as much as and have better benefits than dockworkers though they have less-strenuous, safer work. The court characterized dockworkers as “second‐class citizens" of the Stockton employment force and stated that “it is evident that the community of interest between the truck drivers and the dockworkers not only is in no sense overwhelming but in fact is slight, owing to the differences in working conditions and benefits between the two types of worker and the undeniable danger of strife between the drivers and the dockworkers should they be placed in the same bargaining unit.” View "Nat'l Labor Relations Bd. v. FedEx Freight, Inc." on Justia Law