"Industry Standard"

[MrFedEx]

Management has been directed to use the term "industry standard", as in FedEx is now making efforts to conform to the standards of the package transportation industry. The company uses it in informational venues like Frontline and UpClose and recently used it as the rationale for eliminating the performance review. Great.

So please answer these simple questions, OK? First, is it the industry standard to take 12 years to become a mid-range employee? Is it the industry standard to not have a retirement plan? Or is it the industry standard to spend hundreds of millions preventing unionization? And is it the industry standard to lobby Congress to exempt your pilots from safety standards imposed upon passenger airline pilots?

The accepted industry standard in the small package business is United Parcel Service. We conform only on the last issue, where UPS also exempted it's pilots from the newly imposed off-duty hours ruling. Overall, we don't conform, but FedEx would like you to believe that we do.

This is a concerted effort from the Memphis Unimind to convince employees that they are getting a good compensation package, when they are, in fact, not getting much of anything. Most employees don't know enough about the Transportation sector to have an informed opinion. If you choose to believe MT3, we are an "airline", when, in fact, FedEx is a systems integrator...just like UPS. We are not an airline, but an airline is a component of the business.

Compare FedEx to other modes in the transporation business. Trucking companies,shipping lines. railroads, and most airlines pay better than FedEx and allow their employees to reach top range within a relatively short period of time. Most union companies I am familiar with take 3-5 years, while some of the airlines have an "A" and "B" scale similar to FedEx. None of them take as long to achieve parity as FedEx Express.

So, please realize the industry standard jargon for what it is...sloganeering and false imagery. We are nowhere close to "industry standard" unless you also include the retail sector and the great god of all that is anti-union and anti-worker...WalMart.

 

[Cactus]

"Industry Substandard" is much closer to the real truth.

 

[Mr. 7]

"Industry Substandard" is much closer to the real truth.

 

[olcc]

I wish I still had my handouts from when they announced the pay changes back in September. It spoke of how it was "industry standard" in transportation to have a set amount of time to "top out." So it's extremely frustrating that not only are the raises so weak for the bottom half, but they don't even establish any set scale. It didn't standardize anything or establish any precedent other than the fact that their criteria will always be arbitrary.

If anyone still has this handout kicking around in their truck, please post it.

 

[P1 Lates]

As long as people still line up for jobs at Fedex they could care less about how long it takes to top out. They feel they can replace employees at their whim and for any reason regardless of their tenure with Fedex. We are "at-will" employees and are like ducks in a shooting gallery. Does your manager has his cross-hair sighted on you ready to pull the trigger? Ding-Ding-Ding.

 

[SmithBarney]

Yup 200+ people applied for the last PT position that was open to public. Yet Management still "managed" to pick/train the one that lasted only 1 week and quit.*

 

[MrFedEx]

Yup 200+ people applied for the last PT position that was open to public. Yet Management still "managed" to pick/train the one that lasted only 1 week and quit.*

See, they hired the smartest one.

 

[Mr. 7]

See, they hired the smartest one.

 

[xfdxgroundmgmt]

On the Ground side,as soon as most of the old roadway guys were retired in Pittsburgh the $ for management dried up! However the ontime service went through the roof.

 

[MrFedEx]

On the Ground side,as soon as most of the old roadway guys were retired in Pittsburgh the $ for management dried up! However the ontime service went through the roof.

Your point?

 

[xfdxgroundmgmt]

Your point?

That Fred brought all Express People to the Ground Side and reduced all of the Paychecks of the Ground Mgmt. Teams, even as Volume as well as service have both increased, year over year over year. Imo RPS was better company to work at and for and Fedex Ground is just bigger and has better service.

 

[MrFedEx]

That Fred brought all Express People to the Ground Side and reduced all of the Paychecks of the Ground Mgmt. Teams, even as Volume as well as service have both increased, year over year over year. Imo RPS was better company to work at and for and Fedex Ground is just bigger and has better service.

See the post by another ex-RPS employee about how FedEx came in and ruined the company. Here's a question for you. In your opinion, to what degree do the former Express managers run Ground? From what I have heard, the control is almost total, and that contractors that don't play along are eliminated. In other words, the ISP model is a farce because Memphis really runs Ground, not the contractors.

 

[fedex_rtd]

I would suggest that if your manager talks to you about the pay action, you ask him/her "since this is to help the mid range people top out faster...What is the company goal for time to top out?"

I know that most trucking companies give their employees a $.50 to $.75 pay raise every 6 months until they hit top of range at their jobs, and a full time driver at UPS will top out in 2 to 3 years. When I did the math for this pay raise and where I am at FedEx I "should" top out some time in 2017 or 2018, not bad since I started working for them in 1999. Had I know that I would have left and found another job within a year!

 

[bbsam]

On the Ground side,as soon as most of the old roadway guys were retired in Pittsburgh the $ for management dried up! However the ontime service went through the roof.

I was glad to see the Roadway people finally gone. Most of them never could grasp the IC model...or didn't want to.

 

[MrFedEx]

I would suggest that if your manager talks to you about the pay action, you ask him/her "since this is to help the mid range people top out faster...What is the company goal for time to top out?"

I know that most trucking companies give their employees a $.50 to $.75 pay raise every 6 months until they hit top of range at their jobs, and a full time driver at UPS will top out in 2 to 3 years. When I did the math for this pay raise and where I am at FedEx I "should" top out some time in 2017 or 2018, not bad since I started working for them in 1999. Had I know that I would have left and found another job within a year!

Union companies typically have 3-5 year topouts, and most other trucking companies follow the formula you've outlined. The official FedEx managerial response is something along the lines of "you need a goal", or "you need incentives to keep you motivated". This is such crap, because it's nothing more than a way to perpetuate the scam.

When I started at FedEx, topout was 2 years. This whole extended topout, market area deal is nothing but a way for FedEx to keep pay artificially low. This would never fly with a union, but since we have nothing to fight back with in that area, Fred gets away with it.

 

[fedex_rtd]

If you pull up the historical pay raises for the past 10+ years at FedEx you will see that if you had started working for this company in 2000 and scored a perfect 7.0 on your reviews from the time you started to the current date, you would still be $2.00 behind top pay even if you got the 6% raise next month.

Top raise in March 2011 was 4.5%, top raise in March of 2010 was 2.2%, no raise in 2009, top raise in 2008 was 6.5%, top raise in 2007 was 6.5%, top raise in 2006 was 6.5%, top raise in 2005 was 6.5%, top raise in 2004 was 5.5%, top raise in 2003 was 5.5%, top raise in 2002 was 7.0% top raise previous to 2002 was two 3.5% raises every 6 months.

As you can see we were lied to in 2001 about the raise in 2002, and it has been a steady down turn since then.

I don't know ANYBODY that was able to get the top raises for 10 years in a row.

 

[MrFedEx]

If you pull up the historical pay raises for the past 10+ years at FedEx you will see that if you had started working for this company in 2000 and scored a perfect 7.0 on your reviews from the time you started to the current date, you would still be $2.00 behind top pay even if you got the 6% raise next month.

Top raise in March 2011 was 4.5%, top raise in March of 2010 was 2.2%, no raise in 2009, top raise in 2008 was 6.5%, top raise in 2007 was 6.5%, top raise in 2006 was 6.5%, top raise in 2005 was 6.5%, top raise in 2004 was 5.5%, top raise in 2003 was 5.5%, top raise in 2002 was 7.0% top raise previous to 2002 was two 3.5% raises every 6 months.

As you can see we were lied to in 2001 about the raise in 2002, and it has been a steady down turn since then.

I don't know ANYBODY that was able to get the top raises for 10 years in a row.

That's the plan. Lie, keep it the same.

 

[Mr. 7]

If you pull up the historical pay raises for the past 10+ years at FedEx you will see that if you had started working for this company in 2000 and scored a perfect 7.0 on your reviews from the time you started to the current date, you would still be $2.00 behind top pay even if you got the 6% raise next month.

Top raise in March 2011 was 4.5%, top raise in March of 2010 was 2.2%, no raise in 2009, top raise in 2008 was 6.5%, top raise in 2007 was 6.5%, top raise in 2006 was 6.5%, top raise in 2005 was 6.5%, top raise in 2004 was 5.5%, top raise in 2003 was 5.5%, top raise in 2002 was 7.0% top raise previous to 2002 was two 3.5% raises every 6 months.

As you can see we were lied to in 2001 about the raise in 2002, and it has been a steady down turn since then.

I don't know ANYBODY that was able to get the top raises for 10 years in a row.

I'm glad we have another smart cookie on board.
Rep point.