ack in May 1999, the WWF had a mock-labor uprising on Monday Night Raw. The members of the Corporate Ministry were in the ring, filling it roughly from rope to rope. It was a valedictory moment for the new diabolical faction, which had formed just four days earlier, an unholy amalgamation of the Undertaker's pseudosatanic Ministry of Darkness and Shane McMahon's Corporation. They were interrupted, as in-ring oratories so often are, by four familiar faces: Mick "Mankind" Foley, The Big Show, Test, and Ken Shamrock, all former associates of the Corporation.
They each held an oversized two-by-four — more a blue-collar metaphor than a physical threat — and announced the formation of an opposition group called the Union.1 Their beef was not strictly physical; yes, they wanted to beat up the Corporate Ministry, but the Union's complaint was broader. Since the Corporation had formed, its members had been mistreating their foes and steering opportunities toward cronies. Now, by negotiating a merger with Undertaker's Ministry, the new faction looked like it could dominate WWF matchmaking for the foreseeable future. The Union's goal wasn't just to settle a fight, but also to keep its members' jobs...
...Despite the fact that WWE wrestlers are, by definition, full-time employees, WWE designates them as independent contractors. This is "so they don't have to pay social security and the wrestler has to pay 15 percent self-employment tax," former WWF mainstay Jesse "The Body" Ventura told Howard Stern last year. "How are they self-employed when you're signed exclusively, you can't work for nobody else, they tell you when and where you'll work? They can totally control your life, and yet they'll call you an independent contractor."
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7064371/on-wwe-organized-labor
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