Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Brown bailout


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   delete. Spartaz Humbug! 17:03, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Brown bailout

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"Brown bailout" is a term coined by FedEx to support its lobbying. This summer, the U.S. Congress debated (and in some ways is still debating) legislation that would result in FedEx Ground being defined as a trucking company, as opposed to an airline. Trucking companies fall under the National Labor Relations Act, meaning that their employees are able to unionize locally. Airlines are regulated under the Railway Labor Act, meaning that their employees can only unionize if they hold a national vote to do so. This means that it's much harder for airlines to unionize than trucking companies. UPS is regulated as a trucking company (because it was founded as such), so it is largely unionized. FedEx is regulated as an airline (because it was founded as such), so very few of its classes of employees are unionized. Under the assumption that unions raise costs, UPS wants to level the playing field, so they have lobbied in support of reclassifying FedEx as a trucking company. FedEx fought back with an ad campaign arguing that UPS is seeking a "bailout," and called it a "Brown bailout." Most of the campaign didn't go into any details of what's behind it, simply saying that UPS wants a bailout.

Sorry, that was pretty long. But it's necessary to understand this. Having a Wikipedia article about this term would be equivalent to creating an article for "death panels." It's a loaded term, violated WP:NPOV. It's also a neologism, violating WP:NEO. At best, I would support creation of an article about the above legislation and the FedEx and UPS responses to it, with "Brown bailout" serving as a redirect to a particular section. But this is nothing more than a public relations term coined for the express purpose of swaying public opinion. Jesuschex (talk) 04:46, 24 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Redirect and merge: If it was a big thing, do as proposer suggests and redirect to a subsection of the article on the economic stimulus plan. This should be covered, but not as a separate article, where it fails notability. (The NPOV thing strikes me as a bit silly, as if it commonly goes by that name it's not necessarily NPOV to call it by the name people gave it, even if that name is biased in favour of anti-unionism.) Zelse81 (talk) 06:44, 24 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Comment It's not related to the economic stimulus plan at all. FedEx uses the term "bailout" for public relations purposes. In a bailout, a government literal gives a corporation capital; this is far from that. As for NPOV, it does not commonly go by that name at all. It's a term FedEx gave it, and there's no evidence that the term has stuck in any sense. As for my suggestion for a redirect and merge, that would only work if there were actually an article about the proposed legislation, which there isn't. In other words, there is nothing to redirect and merge to. Jesuschex (talk) 00:43, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

 Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Timotheus Canens (talk) 02:15, 31 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so consensus may be reached.


 * Keep – Coverage, under this specific term, from Forbes – New York Post – Wall Street Journal – BusinessWeek – Washington Post with additional reporting from international 3rd party sources, as shown here, I believe it meets our notability requirements for inclusion. JAAG  Talk 02:28, 31 December 2009 (UTC)
 * delete. It is just a term created by PR purpose, and that it fails to establish notability, in addition of being POV. SYSS Mouse (talk) 02:43, 31 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Merge to Railway Labor Act. The so-called "brown bailout" is a legislative proposal which would amend the Railway Labor Act, so it seems like the best merge target. The term "brown bailout" is inherently biased; it would only be used by supporters of FedEx's position, and apparently even some FedEx supporters disagree with the use of the term "bailout" in this context. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 07:26, 31 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Delete No way should Wikipedia be hosting articles based on lobbying positions or PR-created buzzwords. Besides (although I know it's not a reason for deletion), the article is semi-incoherent. The nominator for deletion explained the concept much better than the article does. --MelanieN (talk) 03:59, 7 January 2010 (UTC)MelanieN
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.