The Facts on the Ground are changing fast and furiously at FedEx Ground

WHEEE!!

Yesterday was a real roller-coaster ride for those FedEx Ground/Home Delivery drivers whose plight was highlighted last week in unbossed.com (see above post).

In the morning, Jane Roberts had this report in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal (the hometown newspaper of FedEx corporate headquarters):

Restraining order denied

No delay for FedEx ground plans in Calif.

A U.S. district judge has ruled against a worker request that would have delayed FedEx Corp.'s plan to consolidate ground routes in California.
Federal judge Robert Miller in the Northern District of Indiana said the workers did not demonstrate threat of irreparable damage in their request for a restraining order under the Family Leave Medical Act.
He also said to delay the case now would "menace" FedEx's ability to maintain a stable work force in the busiest time of its year.
On Sept. 20, FedEx Ground announced it planned to begin consolidating single routes in California, where it lost a $5.3 million appeal this fall over whether its drivers are employees or independent contractors.
The appellate court ruled the workers were employees. The case is now before the California Supreme Court.
All the drivers in the suit were single-route drivers. To eliminate the uncertainty of California's regulatory environment, FedEx offered to pay the drivers between $15,000 and $81,000 for their single routes and consolidate them into more lucrative multiple routes.
It gave the contractors until late October to make their decisions and sign contracts.
Company spokesman Maury Lane said more then two-thirds of single-route drivers in California have already taken advantage of the incentives, "which shows the value our contractors place in the program."
Its contractor model is the subject of a potential class-action suit, filed in the northern district of Indiana. It represents 14,000 drivers. Miller will hear the case.
Suits have been filed individually in 29 states, including Tennessee, by contractors who say they are really employees who are due benefits, including overtime and medical expenses.
"FedEx could serve its customers better by first treating its drivers better, since they are the face of the company that customers see," said Chris Gilreath, the Memphis attorney representing the Tennessee plaintiffs.

Judge Robert L. Miller turns out not to have been such a Grinch, after all. In his denial of the proposed injunction, the judge pointed out that the national class of drivers hadn't yet been certified by his court. This raised an obviously very high hurdle to anyone seeking to prevent injuries to the "putative class." Well, this class is "putative" no longer! The Judge seems to have deliberately accelerated his certification of the class to prevent FedEx from pulling their California stunt anywhere else in the country. From a website devoted entirely to this (just now certified) national class action, came this stunning news yesterday afternoon:



FEDERAL COURT GRANTS CLASS CERTIFICATION IN FEDEX GROUND/HOME DELIVERY CASE
South Bend, Indiana (October 15, 2007) - In a major development, Judge Robert Miller of U.S. District Court for Northern Indiana, today granted class certification on behalf of approximately 14,000 current FedEx Ground/Home Delivery drivers – as well as upwards of 10,000 former drivers - across the nation who are challenging the company’s embattled independent contractor model.
“This is a landmark decision for workers everywhere serving under sham independent contractor arrangements such as the one exploited by FedEx,” said Lynn Rossman Faris, Esq., lead counsel for the drivers who brought separate class-action lawsuits in 36 states that have been consolidated into a multi-district litigation (MDL) before Judge Miller. “The judge’s 56-page opinion is compelling on many levels, including its certification of nationwide claims brought under the Employee Retirement Security Act (ERISA), state wage-and-hour and common law claims.”

So... the plot thickens in the struggle of these hardworking drivers to be treated as they deserve. Stay tuned right here for any more breaking news!