Green’s Dictionary of Slang

the practice of making things easy for one’s associates, handing out easy ‘jobs for the boys’.

1921		Bull. Bureau Business Res., Harrow 25: Feather bedding, getting pay for work not done [OED].
1943		Reader’s Digest Mar. 26: For the union, featherbedding has become an established business procedure; it makes more jobs for more members who pay more dues.