Article calls FedEx " The Wal-Mart of the trucking industry"

[snackdad]

http://labornotes.org/2011/07/fedex-package-handlers-vote-teamsters


I know Brockton, it is horrible conditions in Summer and Winter. I hope they succeed.

Northern California express stations are now putting flyers on the walls instructing couriers how to respond or react when or if approached by a "solicitor". In the past Solicitor always translated into Union.
I have never been gung-ho about Unions but knowing what I know now about FedEx, I say that things could not get worse, let's give it a try. If FedEx could have it's way (Express and Ground) we would all be making 10.50 an hour with no benefits and no barbeques.

 

[bbsam]

Wow. MFE would be proud. Ground always has been NLRB. Surprised this isn't more wide spread.

 

[Catatonic]

Good luck.

 

[LTFedExer]

Surprised this isn't more wide spread.

It will be.

 

[snackdad]

Protest Tax Dodger, Union Buster FedEx!
FedEx Office Kinkos - West Wash · Saturday, July 23, 2011, 2-5:00pm

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION:


Show solidarity with the heroic workers in Brockton, MA, who are standing up for livable wages, sick days,health benefits and breaks by forming a union. The only problem is they work at FedEx, a notorious tax-dodging union-busting corporation. Show the FedEx Ground workers in Brockton that the whole country is fighting with them, and show FedEx that we are all watching and ready to act!

Do you pay your fair share in taxes? You probably pay more than your fair share for wars, bank bailouts, and corporate givebacks. FedEx, on the other hand, dodges taxes left and right, contributing to budgets being slashed for education, health care, transit, jobs, and benefits.

U.S. Uncut states, “When it comes to paying their fair share of taxes, FedEx simply does not deliver. When FedEx made $1.9 billion in profits, they managed to pay less than .0005% of it in taxes by using 21 tax havens. FedEx also spent 42 times (4200%) more on lobbying Congress than they did in taxes.”

While FedEx has cut thousands of jobs, they paid the FedEx Ground CEO David Rebholz over $4.5 million in “compensation” last year. What did he do to deserve this reward? Keep wages low and bust unions drives. FedEx Ground package handlers make less than $11,000/year, wages so low they qualify for food stamps and government medical assistance while doing grueling physical labor with no breaks, no sick days, and poverty wages.

FedEx Ground package handlers in Brockton, Massachusetts are standing up and fighting back. They deserve our support. FedEx management has called the police on these workers while they were organizing a union off of company property. Despite this intimidation, Brockton workers filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board to form a union represented by Teamsters Local 653.

Oppose tax dodging? Hate union busters? Angry about corporate domination? Help us organize FedEx workers into unions across the country. Join us for this National Day of Action, July 23. Come hold a protest sign and/or help us pass out leaflets. We can do this. Let’s win.

 

[bbsam]

$11,000/year? It is a part-time job. Odd they forgot to mention that.

 

[LTFedExer]

$11,000/year? It is a part-time job. Odd they forgot to mention that.

LOL, you noticed that too? I don't know about Ground, but Express handlers get sick days, vacation, paid holidays and medical.

 

[vantexan]

LOL, you noticed that too? I don't know about Ground, but Express handlers get sick days, vacation, paid holidays and medical.

Then why not give Ground handlers the same if they are employees? Or are they now doing just that to ward off a union?

 

[UnconTROLLed]

$11,000/year? It is a part-time job. Odd they forgot to mention that.

What difference does it make? They are throwaway jobs with no benfits, health care options, no future.

Take $10/hr and multiply it by 40, you get $400, x 52, and 20k a year is simply not a livable wage here ( I am from just outside the Brockton area originally). Hell, 40k which is double, you can barely afford a decent apartment and one vehicle.

 

[LTFedExer]

Then why not give Ground handlers the same if they are employees? Or are they now doing just that to ward off a union?

If their paychecks come from FedEx (like Express), they should. Shocked I would agree with you?

What difference does it make? They are throwaway jobs with no benfits, health care options, no future.

Take $10/hr and multiply it by 40, you get $400, x 52, and 20k a year is simply not a livable wage here ( I am from just outside the Brockton area originally). Hell, 40k which is double, you can barely afford a decent apartment and one vehicle.

Most handlers at Express are there just for the bennies because their 2nd (1st) jobs don't give them any. You call them 'throwaway jobs'. While the name might be harsh, you're not far from the truth......especially when there's a line of people waiting to take their place.

 

[bbsam]

Then why not give Ground handlers the same if they are employees? Or are they now doing just that to ward off a union?

As a matter of fact, I believe they do. Rolled the package out here about a year and a half ago.

 

[Cactus]

FedEx management has called the police on these workers while they were organizing a union off of company property. Despite this intimidation, Brockton workers filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board to form a union represented by Teamsters Local 653.

So management called the police because of union activity? And off of company premises?

I'll bet the police laughed.

Those workers were doing nothing illegal.

 

[ironcitycats]

I don't think it takes a genius to figure out that you don't have to be a genius to load trailers. But I hate when people marginalize what we do because it's just a "part-time" job. Monday through Saturday my back hurts, my shins are covered in cuts and bruises, and I feel like I have arthritis in my hands. I stay dehydrated, can't even take in enough fluids to compensate for sweat loss. It's a physically demanding job like few others, although I've never been an Alaskan crab fisherman. I digress...
Sometimes I almost feel like the company takes advantage of minorities and poor people. They know you need the job, and if you don't, there's someone at the door ready to work for a minimal hourly wage and weak benefits. I'd say 90% of the coworkers I've had were minorities. All of my managers thus far were white.
I've seen so many people work their first day and never come back. Some people make it a week. But if people were taken care of by Fedex a little better, we'd plan on working for awhile. No one I work with wants to be there, but they have to be there. I have no idea how UPS handlers do it for 20 years.

We just got paid holidays, vacation time and health/dental plans. Pretty sure we got a $.25 raise about 2 months ago or so. That's a 2% raise. Sweet......

 

[LTFedExer]

But if people were taken care of by Fedex a little better, we'd plan on working for awhile.

So if you made more, your back would hurt less and you'd stay longer? It's been my experience that most handlers are either students making a few bucks with benefits or its a 2nd job because their 1st job doesn't give them benefits.

 

[vantexan]

So if you made more, your back would hurt less and you'd stay longer? It's been my experience that most handlers are either students making a few bucks with benefits or its a 2nd job because their 1st job doesn't give them benefits.

Geez, you are so predictable.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

LTFedexer, this thread is for Ground, not Express. I aml aware that PT FedEx Express get bennies. That has nothing to do with the discussion.

 

[ironcitycats]

If I made more, by back would still hurt nonetheless. The building would be just as hot. The boxes would still be heavy. Nothing will change that, so your asinine comment makes you look silly.

But I don't really see anything wrong with investing in your workforce even if you don't go to college or don't plan on becoming management someday. They keep telling us that package handlers are fedx' entry-level position and that some day we all can be managers. Unfortunately today, that's not how it works. Not everyone can afford college.

Don't know what terminal you worked at and don't care. I've worked at a terminal in a college town and a terminal in a poor, urban neighborhood. Both of them had a handful of college students and more power to those guys. Both terminals had some guys with kids and full-time jobs, working there to get by or save a little extra money. Why should it even matter why people do what we do?

 

[LTFedExer]

LTFedexer, this thread is for Ground, not Express. I aml aware that PT FedEx Express get bennies. That has nothing to do with the discussion.

There's plenty of people looking for work that would be more than happy to get what they get. Those crybabies can go work somewhere else.

 

[vantexan]

There's plenty of people looking for work that would be more than happy to get what they get. Those crybabies can go work somewhere else.

Please, go to the company right now and tell them you insist on lower pay, much lower, and no benefits. Come on big talker, show us how much you love FedEx by falling on your sword for them! All talk, do as you say, not as you do. About 5 years ago the Federal Gov't raided a bunch of Swift meat packing plants. The single biggest one was north of Amarillo where I was working at the time. All told more than a thousand illegal workers were rounded up. Guess what? Apparently someone tipped off Swift before the raid and they advertised that they were hiring. Think they were offering low wages and no benefits? Nope, they upped pay several dollars per hour and offered medical, paid vacations, etc. They knew the only way they'd have the workers they needed after the raid was to offer more. Given the opportunity to either make more profit or do the right thing too many corporations will go for the profit. Swift knew there were people in the area who'd work for decent wages but chose to hire illegals. At least at FedEx there's too much interaction with customers, too much need for English proficiency, written and spoken, to hire illegals. But looking over at Ground it's pretty easy to see that if they can find people who are willing to work for much less then that's the route they'll go.

 

[whenIgetthere]

At least at FedEx there's too much interaction with customers, too much need for English proficiency, written and spoken, to hire illegals.

Reminds me of a job interview I had about 15 years ago when asked what foreign languages I was proficient at, I answered French. Next question was are you willing to become proficient in Spanish, I answered no. When asked why, I asked if they hire many illegal aliens, end of interview!!