The courier service industry has been facing many challenges at the federal level in the past year and it looks as though it will continue to face those challenges throughout 2009. President Barack Obama and the Democrats have been working to push legislative agendas to the forefront. Two of those agendas are threatening to the courier business. The first would affects the way an employee driver based company would operate. The “Employee Free Choice Act” takes away a worker’s right to privacy when voting whether or not to join a union. A union would then be able to organize just by a majority of the workers signing a card; this is called a “card check”. The MCAA along with 500 other associations has joined the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace to oppose this legislation.
Those businesses that base their operations on independent contractors are also facing a serious threat. A legislation is being drafted to intensely modify if not eliminate the independent contractor model altogether. There will be congressional committee hearings and markups regarding this issue. The MCAA has been actively opposing this legislation as well. On March 5, 2009 in Washington, DC they hosted a MCAA Lobby Day, attendee’s were able to speak with their congressional office about the issues affecting the courier industry.