what can the federal govt do for Brown? even the playing field

Revisiting a recent topic-- with more on FedEx vs. UPS-- and the difference in how they're currently treated by the government...

This time, it's Alex Roth in the WSJ...

FedEx Corp. and UPS Inc. are intensifying a dispute over proposed legislation that could upset the balance of power in the package-delivery business by making it easier to unionize FedEx.

UPS is hoping Democratic control of Congress and the White House will enable it to win support for a bill that would place some of FedEx's drivers and other employees under the National Labor Relations Act, the same law that governs UPS. FedEx drivers are currently governed by a separate federal law that makes unionizing more difficult.

The House passed a version of the bill, called the FAA Reauthorization Act, in May. But a Senate version of that same bill doesn't contain a provision that would change FedEx's current labor status.

The chief executives of both companies have met with senators in recent months and have doubled or tripled their lobbying expenditures over the past year and a half. In June, FedEx unveiled a Web site criticizing UPS, whose workers are organized by the Teamsters, for its support of the bill. FedEx also has said the bill would put it at a competitive disadvantage and, as a result, has threatened to postpone buying billions of dollars in new planes from Boeing Co. if the bill becomes law....

The political calculus doesn't divide neatly along party lines....The latest twist came last week, when David Keene, president of the American Conservative Union, joined several other conservative groups in signing a letter questioning FedEx's use of "bailout" to describe what UPS is seeking....UPS argues that it wants the government to level the playing field....

The funny thing is that UPS wants an even playing field-- which would make it easier for labor market cartels to form. I'm not excited about greater union activity, but a level playing field is a higher priority.

UPDATE: In a later posting on the same topic, a commenter said that FedEx has different divisions which are under the same umbrella, but not part of FedEx per se. This allows them have different divisions under the RLA and NLRA.

I'd never heard that about FedEx. Maybe I missed it; if not, that would seem to be an easy, compelling explanation!

If so, if UPS had kept things separate, then they would have been able (at least theoretically) to have some of their work under RLA and NLRA as well.