Fed Ex Media Campaign - Gloves coming off

[PobreCarlos]

Over9;

Only brought the "ducks" up because I could see where, if UPS DID have 'em lined-up, it might not to raise too big a stink otherwise. And, given the current make-up of the Senate, that COULD be very possible ("could", mind you...not meaning "is" or even "likely"). All it needs is to go along party lines and, without raising a stink, UPS gets to look good to labor, while not blowing things [publicly, at least] with the conservatives.

Only suggesting this as an explanation for the relative silence the company has offered-up so far. Maybe, in light of experience, it's just forlorn hope.

I can remember the "write your Congressman" times as well. Also the times (which might be still going on) where local management was supposed to make regular calls on their Representative when he was in-District, and pop-in at his office (asking for "VIP" [yeah, right!] White House tour passes, if nothing else) if one happened to be in Washington. I assume that stuff is still going on, although I don't know to what extent.

 

[dannyboy]

PC

The best response from UPS would be the Regan Response.

Educate the consumer (pretend that is what you are doing) with humor, while you are poking fun at FedEx pretending to be a poor injured party that is wanting more favors and federal handouts.

But wait, all we got is the white board guy, and he really does not seem to have much of a funny bone..

I guess what will happen is what always happens. We finally come up with a good commercial (the one mentioned above) and when FedEx cries that it is old news, we take it down. So what will happen in this case is they will make their point, make us look like a bunch of overpaid thugs (with help from some in our midst), and leave us rocking backward on our heels.

Shame we cant have a cutting edge PR bunch that is catering only to the Geek squad when we advertise.

d

 

[upssalesguy]

i gave a PCM this morning to my drivers (actually two centers becasue I was hell bent on getting this message out - I'm in sales) and I have never had every single eyeball looking at me.

i think with 425,000 employees writing letters, we are in good shape. driver were cheering when i said now is the time to put fedex in the ground.

awesome.

 

[PobreCarlos]

dannyboy;

Hope you're wrong....suspect you're right. Sometimes I think we were better off when the company was following its "no advertising" policy.

As for "salesguy"...well, I wish that 425,000 employees would write letters, but, at best, I suspect just the U.S. ones have much interest, and that it will be only a small fraction of them who'll take that interest up to a higher level. Even then, if it's just so many form letters/emails, I'm not sure if they'll have much impact.

Hopefully I've being over-pessimistic here. And, as I've said before, I'm not too sure if, in the long run, it will make that much difference anyway. With the introduction of the Internet, I can't help but feel that "Railway Act" status isn't as important as it used to be; i.e. - organizing nationally isn't the same as even 20 years ago, when communicating was a complicated, expensive process. Nor can I help but remember that FedEx Ground (and I'm not talking about the contractors here, but the thousands of Ground workers that are direct employees) have been available for organization for decades now, and the Teamsters haven't made an effort worthy of the name toward bringing them in the fold.

But, again, perhaps I'm too much of a pessimist.

 

[upssalesguy]

dannyboy;

Hope you're wrong....suspect you're right. Sometimes I think we were better off when the company was following its "no advertising" policy.

As for "salesguy"...well, I wish that 425,000 employees would write letters, but, at best, I suspect just the U.S. ones have much interest, and that it will be only a small fraction of them who'll take that interest up to a higher level. Even then, if it's just so many form letters/emails, I'm not sure if they'll have much impact.

Hopefully I've being over-pessimistic here. And, as I've said before, I'm not too sure if, in the long run, it will make that much difference anyway. With the introduction of the Internet, I can't help but feel that "Railway Act" status isn't as important as it used to be; i.e. - organizing nationally isn't the same as even 20 years ago, when communicating was a complicated, expensive process. Nor can I help but remember that FedEx Ground (and I'm not talking about the contractors here, but the thousands of Ground workers that are direct employees) have been available for organization for decades now, and the Teamsters haven't made an effort worthy of the name toward bringing them in the fold.

But, again, perhaps I'm too much of a pessimist.

i agree, but I am trying to be optimistic. i had a few drivers suggest us printing our some so they could sign and send them. these are drivers who never really talk to anyone in a suit.

it was a great thing and i really hope this rallies everyone and helps increase moral!

 

[upscorpis]

This campaign is pretty rich. Fred S has been using political clout to hold this exception in place for years. Once McCain lost, he new the giblets were about to hit the gravy. This was the BIG reason Fred S became personally involved in his campaign.

The campaign is a desperate move. As others have stated, there has been "gentlemen's agreement" between the companies for years to not sling mud. Now the mud is flying and to boot, it is an out and out twisting of reality. The RLA exception has been carefully nurtured by Fred S via more underhanded influence than anything UPS has done. Now that the jig is up, he lashes out in a last gasp. I can only hope the facts speak for themselves.

The below article is dated 2005 but it does detail some of Fredex's political maneuvers. It's long so I suggest you start on page 8.

How Do Corporations Play Politics?: The FedEx Story
https://web.archive.org/web/20071116023306/http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/3604586-1.html

 

[Mike57]

Over9;

This is simply speculation on my part, but I'm wondering if the company isn't deliberately trying to go low-key on this issue. While I'll quickly admit that I've not seen a reason to (and have been quite vocal on the issue myself!), I wonder if maybe they're thinking that publicly pushing too hard might be viewed as a little self-serving. Or that pushing what many seem to think is a "pro-labor" point of view may be detrimental (in terms of the Senate vote) as well. As I said, pure speculation on my part.

One wonders what ducks the company might have in a row already. This is perceived by many as a "Democrats v. Republicans" thing, in which the Republicans are expected to uphold the FedEx position. On the other hand (and I haven't look at the spread of Senators yet), I'd be willing to bet that Demo Senators who have large FedEx facilities in their state, like Hagan in NC and Bayh in Indiana might vote for FedEx., while the two Republican Kentucky Senators mind tend toward UPS. In any case, I suspect that UPS has accounted for as much Republican financial support in absolute terms as FedEx. Given that - and the Dem's majority in the Senate, one would THINK it would be a slam dunk....one would THINK (i.e. - famous last words)

Not sure if it would make a difference, but it might help if those Democrat Senators who might be perceived to be leaning toward FedEx were approached with the idea that, even though their states may have large FedEx facilities, it's likely that UPS has close to - or as many - employees in their states. At least enough to get some "correct" information out.

With that in mind, I noticed that the Indianapolis Star's article today had a side-bar that stated "FedEx has one hub in Indianapolis" on one line, then a second line that said "UPS doesn't have any" (or the equivalent). Now, while Indy may not have a UPS AIR hub, to the best of my knowledge, it DOES have TWO regular hubs....but if you got your information solely from the newspapers blurb, you'd never know that.

Again, if things are like I think they are, and UPS has its hands tied to a certain extent, then it's probably going to be up to individuals like us to get the word out.

Too long a post again. Sorry....

Yes,
But even UPS doesn't have air hub in IND. The main air hub for UPS is only what 90 miles south in Louisville Ky.

 

[upscorpis]

I forgot one last point on the escalation of hostilities. The domain brownbailout.com is actually blocking access from UPS IP addresses which means any browser inside of UPS could not access the site. (All that displays is a Red Hat Enterprise Linux test page.) Again, in the past, we have mutually not blocked each other from accessing our respective web sites. This held true even when we detected them crawling through our time and transit data and rates available through UPS.com. It may not seem like a big deal but my belief is it was meant to delay UPS' ability to read and react. Nothing a wireless card couldn't handle ;-}

 

[pickup]

I think a lot of you are finally starting to figure out the way Fred S does business. He's like the little rich kid who won't stop crying until Daddy gets him a pony, and he's going to kick and scream even as his father carries him out to the limo. Even if this stunt fails (and I think it will), he's got more dirty tricks left in his bag. He is Satan's spawn.

And you forgot to add that as a member of skull and bones, he is also an illuminati member who probably get his kicks at the bohemian grove every year.

 

[Catatonic]

I forgot one last point on the escalation of hostilities. The domain brownbailout.com is actually blocking access from UPS IP addresses which means any browser inside of UPS could not access the site. (All that displays is a Red Hat Enterprise Linux test page.) Again, in the past, we have mutually not blocked each other from accessing our respective web sites. This held true even when we detected them crawling through our time and transit data and rates available through UPS.com. It may not seem like a big deal but my belief is it was meant to delay UPS' ability to read and react. Nothing a wireless card couldn't handle ;-}

Delayed us for about two minutes.
3G is pretty fast.

 

[upscorpis]

Hmm - I wonder where the boss got the idea....????

 

[dilligaf]

I was embarassed, I thought I was the only one who didn't thoroughly understand it. Thanks dilli, now I don't feel so dumb

I never really paid any attention to it til now. I still don't fully understand it but know alot more than a week ago.

I agree. I am really irritated right now because no one has mentioned ONE WORD OF THIS AT WORK.

If UPS doesn't get its head in the game.... well, I better never hear the phrase "unlevel playing field" again.



Brown Cafe's 10th Anniversary 124 days, 8 hours

We had a PCM on this this morning. Many of our drivers had no clue about it. Bring it up to them, Over. Let em know that you are wanting to know what's going on. If for no other reason than to be able to answer customers questions.

 

[brownmonster]

Now the employees are supposed to rally for a company that's been treating them so well lately. Interesting.

 

[tieguy]

I forgot one last point on the escalation of hostilities. The domain brownbailout.com is actually blocking access from UPS IP addresses which means any browser inside of UPS could not access the site. (All that displays is a Red Hat Enterprise Linux test page.) Again, in the past, we have mutually not blocked each other from accessing our respective web sites. This held true even when we detected them crawling through our time and transit data and rates available through UPS.com. It may not seem like a big deal but my belief is it was meant to delay UPS' ability to read and react. Nothing a wireless card couldn't handle ;-}

everyone should go there and swamp the board with pro ups postings on their blog.

 

[outta hours]

I hope it turns out as good as Zap Mail did .

 

[Theichii]

Funny thing is i had a long talk with a fedex guy at mcdonald's the other day for lunch (btw have you ever notice that the d and ex juxtaposed like that make an arrow) and he said he wants the bill to go through. He's been with the company 20 something years and still makes 20.00 an hour. He has to pay his own insurance and everything else. I asked him about what unionization would potentially do for Fred and if he would shut the operation down. He smiled and said well then that means more jobs at ups.

 

[Grandmas Darlings]

I believe that UPS will come out as the winner when Congress votes on this. I believe in the honesty and integrity of our company and I believe that the strong will survive and that we will be better for it.

We have some of the smartest people working for UPS (just look around the room) and that is not by accident. It will be the brown blood that unites all of us that will help us defeat our competition at their own game.

It is time for all of us to work together, union and management, and only then will we succeed.

Write to your congressmen and women, go after their business, we can win this by being the strong silent company with ethics that we have always been.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

War is on
Enlarge the paystub to about 5x5' and flash it to the fed ex delivery drivers when you see them.

 

[dilligaf]

Just out of curiousity, what if the bill is passed? Can Fed Ex survive the on slaught of the union organizing, their customers coming back to us, and I'm sure there are things that I haven't even thought of. What do you think?

 

[PobreCarlos]

dilligaf;

Again, perhaps I'm being pessimistic here - and while I very much want the playing field to be leveled - I'm not so sure it will make a qualitative difference. As I said in another post, what with the means of communications provided by the internet, cell phones, etc., the days when classification under the Railway Act really meant something in terms of avoiding organization are probably passed; if the desire is there, there just isn't THAT much difference in organizing terminal-by-terminal and system wide; i.e. - if you can reach one location, you can pretty much reach them all.

Of course, the basis of getting any organizing done is making an effort...and the Teamsters have wasted close to forty years without making an effort worthy of the name. And, bear in mind, that this goes back to when ALL of FedEx had less employees than it does in several of its SINGLE locations today (Memphis and Indpls, for example). And it also goes back to a period when the Teamsters had well more than twice the members in the transportation industry, with correspondingly more power. Plus, "way back when", there was probably much less concern by those affected at to what being "organized" could do; i.e. - they didn't have all the Teamster-organized bankrupt trucking companies to look at, or the failure of organized "express" companies like DHL/Airborne...to say nothing of the comparison between the "organized" and "un-organized" automotive industry. And while there are definitely some FedEx employees that WANT to be organized, I'm not seeing a massive ground-swell amongst them for it...and probably for good reason. As has been mentioned by others here, it could mean the loss of their jobs. And while those jobs (or at least some of them) might migrate to UPS, that doesn't mean they'll be available to those that lost theirs at FedEx...a fact which current FedEx employees also realize.

Anyway, not trying to pour cold water on any hot ideas; just being a little realistic. After all (the legislation), it COULD make a difference. It's just that, from my experience, it seems rather unlikely. But who knows?