Organizing FedEx Ground

[Mike Hawk]

A week or so ago the local BA was at our driver PCM talking to the drivers about organizing FedEx Ground guys, he said some court decision had made it possible to organize Ground drivers who work for other people, the ones who don’t own their own route. This really didn’t make sense to me, first unions derive their power through numbers, and organizing a few drivers against the route owner does not seem to carry much weight, he could fire the 2-3 drivers he has and hire 2-3 more that aren’t union. What would the union do to stop that? A national strike wouldn’t really work for saving a few guys jobs. Second I don’t think the route owners could afford paying drivers “the big union bucks” so to speak, like what UPS driver make.

Has anyone else heard anything about this?

 

[JonFrum]

. . .he could fire the 2-3 drivers he has and hire 2-3 more that aren’t union. What would the union do to stop that?

Mike,

The Union, or the fired drivers, would file an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. It's illegal to fire someone for legitimate union activity. The NLRB's website is here . . .
http://www.nlrb.gov

Second I don’t think the route owners could afford paying drivers “the big union bucks” so to speak, like what UPS driver make.

Route Owners could afford to match "the big union bucks" that the mighty, mighty Teamsters have negotiated for its UPS drivers. Although some packages are picked up and delivered by drivers making over $28 per hour, many packages are not. Not any more. Not like the old days. Think of all the drivers still in progression getting as little as $14.70. And how many of them will be replaced with other new hires, who in turn will be replaced by more new hires, etc. thus delaying the achievment of Top Rate for many years. Then there are all the full-time and part-time Air Drivers, and the non-union (in my bulding) Customer Counter and Same-Day-Will-Call clerks. And the Exception Air Drivers, and the Air Drivers picking up ground packages, and the Supervisors doing pick-up and delivery. And the Driver's Helpers, and the Temp/Seasonal/Cover Drivers. Average in all these concessionary wages, and the even lower progression wages these workers get for the first few years, and it's a lot less than $28.14 (the Top Rate in New England.)

 

[tieguy]

Mike,

The Union, or the fired drivers, would file an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. It's illegal to fire someone for legitimate union activity. The NLRB's website is here . . .
http://www.nlrb.gov



Route Owners could afford to match "the big union bucks" that the mighty, mighty Teamsters have negotiated for its UPS drivers. Although some packages are picked up and delivered by drivers making over $28 per hour, many packages are not. Not any more. Not like the old days. Think of all the drivers still in progression getting as little as $14.70. And how many of them will be replaced with other new hires, who in turn will be replaced by more new hires, etc. thus delaying the achievment of Top Rate for many years. Then there are all the full-time and part-time Air Drivers, and the non-union (in my bulding) Customer Counter and Same-Day-Will-Call clerks. And the Exception Air Drivers, and the Air Drivers picking up ground packages, and the Supervisors doing pick-up and delivery. And the Driver's Helpers, and the Temp/Seasonal/Cover Drivers. Average in all these concessionary wages, and the even lower progression wages these workers get for the first few years, and it's a lot less than $28.14 (the Top Rate in New England.)

[-]these NLRB lawsuits were very effectively applied by the teamsters when they successfully organized Overnight[/-]

Never mind.

 

[Mike Hawk]

Mike,

The Union, or the fired drivers, would file an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. It's illegal to fire someone for legitimate union activity. The NLRB's website is here . . .
http://www.nlrb.gov



Route Owners could afford to match "the big union bucks" that the mighty, mighty Teamsters have negotiated for its UPS drivers. Although some packages are picked up and delivered by drivers making over $28 per hour, many packages are not. Not any more. Not like the old days. Think of all the drivers still in progression getting as little as $14.70. And how many of them will be replaced with other new hires, who in turn will be replaced by more new hires, etc. thus delaying the achievment of Top Rate for many years. Then there are all the full-time and part-time Air Drivers, and the non-union (in my bulding) Customer Counter and Same-Day-Will-Call clerks. And the Exception Air Drivers, and the Air Drivers picking up ground packages, and the Supervisors doing pick-up and delivery. And the Driver's Helpers, and the Temp/Seasonal/Cover Drivers. Average in all these concessionary wages, and the even lower progression wages these workers get for the first few years, and it's a lot less than $28.14 (the Top Rate in New England.)

They could get fired for "seatbelt violation" or not knowing the 8 keys to this or that, you know what UPS fires drivers for. Or they could not accept any decent offers and let the drivers strike, 3 drivers wouldn't be that hard to replace.

If the drivers were organized the owners would be paying for things like gas/maintenance/insurance on the truck, in addition to benefits for the driver depending on what teamsters could negotiate. That's in addition to the hourly pay they would make.

Not trying to argue, but I can't wrap my head around how this will work, and it will keep bugging me until I figure it out.

 

[JonFrum]

They could get fired for "seatbelt violation" or not knowing the 8 keys to this or that, you know what UPS fires drivers for.

Employers can always fire someone under false pretenses or trumpted-up charges. Any law can be abused. But if the Union (or the fired workers) can prove that the stated reason for the terminations was just a subterfuge, the employees would get their jobs back, with back pay, and a public promise from the employer that he has been spanked and won't do it again. It would be very suspicious if suddenly three veteran employees were the only ones fired, and all three were union activists. NLRB investigators and judges are alert to these tactics.

Or they could not accept any decent offers and let the drivers strike, 3 drivers wouldn't be that hard to replace.

An employer has a legal Duty To Bargain, and to Bargain in Good Faith. There's a list of Mandatory Subjects For Bargaining, that requires the employer to actively engage in the give and take of collective bargaining. Failure to Bargain In Good Faith is an Unfair labor Practice and the employer would be charged by the Union and spanked by the NLRB.

In my Local, the bargaining units at half the companies consists of less than 10 members. It only takes two employees to constitute a bargaining unit, and to trigger a variety of NLRB rights and protections.

 

[JonFrum]

If the drivers were organized the owners would be paying for things like gas/maintenance/insurance on the truck, in addition to benefits for the driver depending on what teamsters could negotiate. That's in addition to the hourly pay they would make.

Don't Employers/Route Owners pay all these expenses one way or the other, either directly or indirectly, weather the employees are unionized or not? It's all part of the cost of doing business.

 

[Mike Hawk]

Don't Employers/Route Owners pay all these expenses one way or the other, either directly or indirectly, weather the employees are unionized or not? It's all part of the cost of doing business.

Maybe that was just single owner operators that owned their route that had to buy their own truck/pay maintence/gas/insurance. I don't pretend to know much about FedEx. I always thought unions were on a much larger scale, guess not.