I think the IBT needs us as much as we need the IBT. Their membership has been steadily dropping as well as their war chest.
Fred has been playing both sides to the middle. By pulling this last minute crap with raises among other things he strengthens UPS's hand at the bargaining table.
Wrong (on the first part)...
The DC staff of the IBT is getting paid just fine with the revenue they've got coming in. Business isn't booming for them right now, but they are getting by just fine.
This is part of the misconception out there among Express employees - that they are some 'prize' to be gained if the price is right. The IBT sees nothing but liability when it comes to Express. The cost to organize Express would be prohibitive, and the history of Couriers (to overtures by IBT) has demonstrated that getting a majority in a one-time nationwide election wouldn't happen - thus why the move 3 years ago to pull the RLA from Express, allowing stations to be 'picked off' one at a time in local elections under NLRA rules. Too many Couriers are either scared or don't believe that things will get worse (just read the posts by some of the Express Couriers here) to have a single nationwide election turn up a majority.
Oh yes, the Couriers are angry... but they aren't going to do anything rash such as sign one of those repulsive union cards - won't do it. They want promises in advance of signing a simple petition to be represented by the IBT - guarantees of specific protections, guarantees of a certain minimum negotiated wage rate, an agreement to be wine and dined by the leadership of the IBT local... you name it (believe me, I was there as a Courier, had requests of 'guarantees' before someone would sign a rep card I handed them).
There are no guarantees.
It comes down to the simple fact of whether the Couriers will continue to trust in Fred, or see what Hoffa will do for them SHOULD they deliver enough rep cards to DC to guarantee a majority vote if the IBT petitions the NLRB for an election.
I liken this to the arguments philosophers use for the existence of God. They have well developed arguments for and against the existence of God (just as Couriers have for and against signing a union rep card). But in the end, it comes down to either accepting or rejecting the existence of God - one way or another, no middle ground, no going 'halfsies' and hedging one's bet with a small bit of insurance. It's one way or another, all in or all out.
This is the situation you are in as a Courier or RTD - you either need to go all in, or all out, there is no middle ground, no halfsies.
This is where YOU have to start doing some organizing work - getting the word out, dispelling the fear, countering the Express BS that they constantly feed out.
Believe it or not, by YOUR reading and posting to this forum, YOU are the leadership of any potential organization drive. YOU took the initiative to dig for information and to not accept the BS and get alternative viewpoints. YOU are the leadership whether you want to admit it or not.
By strengthening UPS's hand at the coming negotiations (keeping Express wage and compensation levels low), yes, Fred does give more power to UPS to take a hard line against the UPS drivers - but not much. Fred's whole game for the past 15 years has been to engage in a form of Chinese water torture (towards the wage employees). He knows the end goal he wants, but he isn't going to come right out and create alarm and give the fence sitters incentive to sign one of those dastardly union cards (make his changes in a single one time action). His game is to play it slow, gradually widen the compensation gap between UPS and Express till he gets where he wants. At the same time he is reorganizing Express to fit his ultimate goal. Another way to look at it is the frog in the kettle of water being heated. Has it gotten hot enough for you yet - or will you continue to complain while slowly being cooked?
But how in the hell does all of that help your position as an Express employee (knowing Fred's strategy)???
You are either all in or all out (organize or not) - halfsies don't do crap for your situation - neither does petty acts of sabotage or vandalism.
That is a great point. The bargaining power that the ibt would have if they had the two largest companies in the industry would be immense.
More dreaming....
Yes, the IBT would really like to have the labor in the only two non-USPS shipping providers in their pocket....
But they also know that they'll never be able to get Express the way things are set up. So they don't spend their time dreaming, they focus on the cash cow they have and wait for yet another day when potentially the RLA status will be pulled from Express. Problem is, for those in Express NOW, that will be much too late. The reorganization of Express will have been completed way before they have to worry about losing their RLA status - and by then, the career Courier will be history.
Take a look at Ground - Fred just loves his bastard step-children there getting off his volume for one-third the rate UPS has to pay their drivers.
Think about it... if the IBT was really wanting to make some waves, they'd focus on getting the IC/ISP model used in Ground to be declared an inappropriate use of the intent of the law - have a court rule as such, then IMMEDIATELY start attempts at organizing the Ground drivers.
Have you heard of any such action (current - not 2+ years ago), to have Ground's little arrangement declared an "unconscionable business practice" and have it ended? I haven't.
The REAL threat to UPS and its unionized employees is GROUND, NOT Express. Express is merely a player in the overnight market - a market which is shrinking slowly as shippers become ever more cost concerned and Ground's performance gets better and better.
I hate to be the 'downer' here, but in the greater scheme of things (to the IBT, UPS, UPS drivers...), Express just isn't really that important. For some reason, the employees of Express seem to have this concept that they have 'specialness', which extends to their belief that the IBT should be helping them out, since it would be in the IBT's best interest to do so. Those who were with Express back in the 90s and 80s tend to have this belief of 'specialness' more so than those with less than 10 years in.
Here's the reality - if you work for Express and work as a Courier, you drive a delivery truck for a living - that's it, nothing really special about it. There are 10's of thousands out there in the US who drive a delivery truck for a living.
Do you want to know what makes the drivers of UPS 'special'??? They drive a delivery truck for a living and make double what the typical delivery driver of Express makes, and triple what the delivery drivers of Ground makes. That's what makes the UPS drivers special.
How did they get that 'specialness'??? Sometime in the past their predecessors saw fit to organize and guarantee equitable treatment for themselves and their successors.
Wearing a FedEx shirt doesn't make you 'special' (Fred has the Ground drivers wearing the same shirts now...). Having union representation would make you 'special'.