Non-Union?

[bbsam]

267 Have you looked into transfering to Express?

 

[MrFedEx]

We all know the IC classification is bogus. The managers at Ground do there best to treat us as employees. We had a guy in our stable of drivers who recieved a complaint, the next thing he knows he is in a meeting with the managers watching a FedEx video and having to fill out a packet on proper delivery techniques. He told me he filled out the packet however the answers were not to there liking and they were not going to let him drive until he copied the answers from a packet so they could send a copy in and put a copy in his file. Why if we are not their employees do they have a file on us? Should that not be the contractors job? We are his employees not FEDEX employees right.
We are treated like employees in every aspect of the word except for the hourly wage, overtime, beneifits, vacation, holidays etc.
They want to call us all day and tell us to go back so no more phone for me. They want us to unload International Packages, sorry not my job thats the unloads job, they want to give us new pickups with windows 3 hours after we are out of the area, with no asking if we can do it and negotiate a better time. They treat us like employees period. Where else can you work 50 hours plus a week and still qualify for Food Stamps ? So until they pay us like employees and give us all the benefits of a employee I say pound sand. You will get out of me what is paid for and at this point your damn lucky I dont bring the truck back at hour 8 and say have a good night!!!!=)

You've just described the reason for IC's, which is to make it appear as though the FedEx Corp. is in the background, not the foreground. FedEx runs the show...not the IC's. Why doesn't your IC perform the disciplinary and personnel functions? Also, the FedEx Corp. shouldn't be dictating what you do. Again, shouldn't your marching orders come from the IC, who is your "boss"? Scam, scam, scam.

 

[MrFedEx]

267 Have you looked into transfering to Express?

FedEx employees cannot transfer between divisons unless they are in upper management (example: Bill Logue from Express to Freight). Besides, Ground drivers aren't employees anyway according to FedEx. Confused yet?

 

[FedExer267]

Hey bbsam you know I would if they were hiring I know Express has issues, however collecting Aluminum cans would be a better job than working for Ground. I had 115 stops today 250 pieces and picked up a 150 pieces as well. needles to say I busted my BUTT. Punched out at 430pm after rolling out the door at 8 am good days work right. I get back to the building just wanting to go home and start the weekend and I get cornered by Management Why dont you answer your phone? We tried calling you all day. I said sorry I dont answer my phone because it is just that my phone, My personal phone I pay the bill not you. Well you need to answer your phone when we call you period or you will be on the unemployment line. I looked these two square in the eye and said 1) if you want to get a hold of me you can provide me with a phone and I will answer it. 2) talk to me before I leave or after I return. As for threatening my job I dont work for you so what you say to me means nothing. Have a good weekend gentleman and I turned and walked out.
If I was say a 25 year old kid I might be worried and parinoid about losing my job and give in to their intimidation. However I am not a kid I am a man and I will not put up with this kind of crap. I say bring it and lets show the whole world how you treat us like employees and furthermore I am still waiting to see them show me the contract I signed that said I would use my own personal phone and pay the bill for doing FedEx business. Funny still havent brought it to me

 

[MrFedEx]

We all know the IC classification is bogus. The managers at Ground do there best to treat us as employees. We had a guy in our stable of drivers who recieved a complaint, the next thing he knows he is in a meeting with the managers watching a FedEx video and having to fill out a packet on proper delivery techniques. He told me he filled out the packet however the answers were not to there liking and they were not going to let him drive until he copied the answers from a packet so they could send a copy in and put a copy in his file. Why if we are not their employees do they have a file on us? Should that not be the contractors job? We are his employees not FEDEX employees right.
We are treated like employees in every aspect of the word except for the hourly wage, overtime, beneifits, vacation, holidays etc.
They want to call us all day and tell us to go back so no more phone for me. They want us to unload International Packages, sorry not my job thats the unloads job, they want to give us new pickups with windows 3 hours after we are out of the area, with no asking if we can do it and negotiate a better time. They treat us like employees period. Where else can you work 50 hours plus a week and still qualify for Food Stamps ? So until they pay us like employees and give us all the benefits of a employee I say pound sand. You will get out of me what is paid for and at this point your damn lucky I dont bring the truck back at hour 8 and say have a good night!!!!=)

Here's where the "franchisee" idea falls completely apart. Several people have posted on this site that FedEx Ground is no different from a McDonald's franchise. Really? When a McDonald's employee has an issue, who handles it? The McDonald's corporation or the franchisee? Unless it's a major lawsuit or something drastic that affects the corporation, it's the franchisee who handles personnel and performance issues. There is no representative employee from the corporation on-site, quite unlike FedEx Ground, where the place is crawling with EMPLOYEE MANAGERS who hold "non-employee" drivers to a FedEx corporate standard. That sure sounds like an employer/employee relationship to me. Where is the IC? Oh, he's out having a truck fixed, or maybe he's on the golf course. The corporation and it's DIRECT EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATIVES (managers) have a direct and binding relationship with the drivers. How else could you hold the "non-employee" to a performance standard?

 

[FedExer267]

Heres where it gets funny. My IC told me himself after I asked for a long overdue raise, I wish I could give you a raise however they only pay me 20 cents a package you deliver. Now let me ask you why would anyone go into this if that were true you would be broke . You could not afford to pay us what you do. Never mind you have a Harley a nice lifted pickup truck a boat oh ya and belong to a country club how could you afford this? Whats the deal bbsam I thought the 20 cents was on picked up packages not on delivered packages. How can you afford to live if this was true? Is my boss really that much of a scum bag or is this really what you make from FedEX and why would I ever consider going into this if that were the case.

 

[FedExer267]

Sorry to go off topic but I am just curious. Maybe this is why we never see this guy except on fridays.

 

[bbsam]

Heres where it gets funny. My IC told me himself after I asked for a long overdue raise, I wish I could give you a raise however they only pay me 20 cents a package you deliver. Now let me ask you why would anyone go into this if that were true you would be broke . You could not afford to pay us what you do. Never mind you have a Harley a nice lifted pickup truck a boat oh ya and belong to a country club how could you afford this? Whats the deal bbsam I thought the 20 cents was on picked up packages not on delivered packages. How can you afford to live if this was true? Is my boss really that much of a scum bag or is this really what you make from FedEX and why would I ever consider going into this if that were the case.

Your contractor is either A) full of crap or B) a very bad business man. And if your contractor cared, terminal staff wouldn't say "boo" to you. He is obviously an easily pushed around and intimidated wuss or simply doesn't want to run his business.

 

[MrFedEx]

Your contractor is either A) full of crap or B) a very bad business man. And if your contractor cared, terminal staff wouldn't say "boo" to you. He is obviously an easily pushed around and intimidated wuss or simply doesn't want to run his business.

Hey, bbsam. Tell me the duties and responsibilities of "terminal staff". It sounds to me that they run the place, not the IC's. If the IC's are "in charge", why does FedEx even need managers on-site anyway? I think the answer is pretty obvious.

 

[FedExer267]

Oh believe me MFE they think they do run the place. I have had the same question if we are not employees why do these overpaid stiffs even have a job? Why do they follow us around making sure we deliver properly? Why do they need to go on ride alongs? Why are they in our trucks every morning going over what we did the day before? Why do they tell us anything? If we are truly employees of a IC why are they babysitting us? I have had a TM tell me I am not his employee he dosent give a crap what I do. So if this is true why is he even there?
FedEx wants them to treat us as employees they will continue to get away with it til this model goes away. If they dont like you they will hold your ICs contract over their head saying if you want it renewed get rid of him. They dont care they are not the ones who will be paying unemployment.
Back when Add 11 came out my IC gave me a copy why I dont know. This talks about what FedEx wants in drivers for Ground. Why do they have any say if you infact run your own business? We have a guy who will be getting suspended for a traffic violation it is not up to our IC it is up to FedEx how long this guy will be suspended all the IC gets to do is pay his unemployment nice huh. I have said it before the only reason Ground has some quality drivers now is because of the economy. When this economy turns around and we all go back to are real jobs they are in trouble because you want be able to find quality drivers for what they pay with no benefits. Quality drivers want real jobs ...

 

[grizbiker]

MrFedEx and FedExer267

 

[bbsam]

Hey, bbsam. Tell me the duties and responsibilities of "terminal staff". It sounds to me that they run the place, not the IC's. If the IC's are "in charge", why does FedEx even need managers on-site anyway? I think the answer is pretty obvious.

Odd you should mention that. In fact we've just recently instituted CPC (Customer Pickup Coordination (I think)) and as far as I can tell, local staff is rather on edge because the writing is on the wall that we will soon need far fewer staff at the building. And let's not pretend that all these staff are not needed. But 267's contractor is obviously the weakpoint. Terminal staff are not even supposed to contact contractor's drivers without permission from the contractor. It is precisely the reason Fedex has lost so many lawsuits in the past.

 

[MrFedEx]

Odd you should mention that. In fact we've just recently instituted CPC (Customer Pickup Coordination (I think)) and as far as I can tell, local staff is rather on edge because the writing is on the wall that we will soon need far fewer staff at the building. And let's not pretend that all these staff are not needed. But 267's contractor is obviously the weakpoint. Terminal staff are not even supposed to contact contractor's drivers without permission from the contractor. It is precisely the reason Fedex has lost so many lawsuits in the past.

Great, but why are "terminal staff" even part of the equation? Their job should be to oversee the IC's, because it is the IC who has the contractual relationship with the FedEx Corporation, right? A Ground manager shouldn't be able to say "boo" to a driver because they aren't even an "employee". The fact that Ground management is heavily involved in performance and personnel issues indicates an employer/employee relationship.

 

[bbsam]

I've mentioned it before. Ground terminal staff at some locations will attempt to pull this crap. It's up to the contractor to put an end to it. Thus, I called 267's contractor a wuss.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I've mentioned it before. Ground terminal staff at some locations will attempt to pull this crap. It's up to the contractor to put an end to it. Thus, I called 267's contractor a wuss.

How does this work when the contractor has his own route to deliver every day?

 

[FedExer267]

How does this work when the contractor has his own route to deliver every day?

There are some IC's that do deliver everyday and then there are those who have employees to deliver for them. In my experience with my IC he has X amount of routes and has X amount of employees deliver those routes we hardly ever see this guy. IMO it is the actual IC's who drive a route everyday or have driven everyday for a period of time that treat their employees a little better with things like vacation, paid holidays, and the occasional bonus because they know the business and appreciate their employees a little more.

 

[MrFedEx]

There are some IC's that do deliver everyday and then there are those who have employees to deliver for them. In my experience with my IC he has X amount of routes and has X amount of employees deliver those routes we hardly ever see this guy. IMO it is the actual IC's who drive a route everyday or have driven everyday for a period of time that treat their employees a little better with things like vacation, paid holidays, and the occasional bonus because they know the business and appreciate their employees a little more.

Notice how bbsam pretty much blew-off the idea that FedEx Ground managers really run the show?

 

[FedExer267]

Yep I did.. There are some Contractors that fight tooth and nail with these Managers but then when their contract will be held over their head. FedEx has the power and they will show it every chance they get. It dosen't take a genuios to see their thinking of there is always another fool to pay their costs of doing business. Its simple if you don't kiss alittle butt you will not last. Its sad..

 

[bbsam]

How does this work when the contractor has his own route to deliver every day?

Not sure I understand the question.

 

[bbsam]

Notice how bbsam pretty much blew-off the idea that FedEx Ground managers really run the show?

I didn't know I blew it off. You seem to suggest that these managers have no position at all. They are to be the company contact with the contractor. Why shouldn't they run the terminal? It's theirs. But if I am under contract with them and I have employees then the company really has no business contacting my employees. As far as holding a contract over a contractor's head, you really need to brush up on contract law. People around here seem to think that getting out of a contract is a simple matter. In fact, it's the very last thing the company wants to do. It is lengthy (months), expensive (legally), and tends to make bad relations with the contractor in the not so unlikely event that the contract is not terminated at the end of the process (yes, that too happens).