I'm trying to stay away from the forum but do want to answer this one. Yes, we still get the traditional pension but it's frozen with no possibility to increase it, no COLA to lessen the effects of inflation. The new pension pays considerably less and won't make up for what I had planned to be the foundation of my retirement. I did make a mistake quitting in 1997. Came back in '98 and was told I'd top out in 7 to 8 years. I've been in numerous locations with FedEx and heard this told over the years to newhires, including last year. I'd long since realized that they had no intention to honor that but am astounded that they have the gall to continue to say this. Not topping out in 7 to 8 years, nowhere near it after 14.5 years since rehired, has greatly reduced my ability to invest in the 401k, just like 10's of thousands of other midrange employees. Do you not see that there's something very flawed in lying to people get them to work for FedEx?
There is something very flawed in pushing people to accept less and less so that executives can cash in stock options and reap millions. Sorry if I included you in the exploitation, thought you were a contractor. And yes businesses exist to make money. We're all trying to make money to have a decent life. And in this economy the likelihood of a fellow in his late 40's landing a decent job after years of night school and college debt while working fulltime is slim. If there were great jobs to be had for everyone with a degree then there wouldn't be high unemployment. Millions with degrees are already seeking them out.
Are FedEx couriers not much more than fast food workers? When we are working in storms, blizzards, high heat, risking our necks do you think we are just service workers with no skills? Do you think the demands placed on us by the company to be ever more productive are experienced at McDonald's? The many hours spent away from our families at Christmas working ourselves to exhaustion doesn't warrant better pay? And why does the company have to lie to us over and over if everything is fine with their business model?
What you don't realize as a young woman is that many of us in our late 40's have begun to break down from decades of hard work. Our joints ache. Our backs and knees are bad. We develop Type 2 Diabetes and heart problems. We count on a decent pension and better pay as we enter our last productive years. And expect that in return for decades of hard work and faithful service. And what you don't seem bothered by is Corporate America has exchanged doing right by it's employees to instead use them and cast them aside. It's not the America I grew up in, and we deserve better.