The FedEx Ground Threat

[MrFedEx]

Are you even halfway familiar with the requirements to organize FE???? If you were, you would understand from a purely business point of view, why it is stupid to pursue FE.

You should talk to your Dr about balancing your meds.

From a purely business point of view, the IBT desperately needs new membership, so failing to pursue FedEx is bad business....not surprising considering your "leadership". FedEx employees are willing to take the initiative---we just need to know the Teamsters have our back, as in when Fred fires us that we will have a legal team ready and waiting to get our jobs back because we were let go for exercising our workplace rights. There also needs to be a national card-signing drive, which is as simple as having an IBT rep stand outside a FedEx facility and gather the signed cards. Whew!! Jim Jr. would get exhausted just reading this.

The iBT is dying a slow death, yet Mr. Hoffa doesn't seem very interested in reviving the patient. Why is that?

 

[barnyard]

Who would you suggest stand out by every FE facility to hand out and collect those cards????? and how many days should someone stand by each gate?????

I really do not think you understand, so I will explain it.

51% of EVERY eligible employee through out the country has to vote yes in order to certify the union. Non-voters count as a 'no' vote.

Think about that for a couple of minutes. The Teamsters would need to have someone at EVERY station in the country during every shift change. Keep in mind that the Teamster would not be allowed on FE property, so he/she would need to find a safe place to legally hang out.

You are telling me, that more than 51% of your fellow workers (including PT) would welcome a union????

UPS bought Overnite from the Union Pacific (Overnite was not a union company, but the UP is, go figure). UPS signed an agreement with the Teamsters shortly after buying Overnite that they would not oppose organizing. Years later, every terminal is not organized. There are many people that speak very eloquently about not needing a union. They are horribly wrong, but because they are well-respected, many follow them along. Plus and this is huge, how many employees are in RTW states??? I have found that many, if not most, non-union people in an RTW state are anti union. It is purely anecdotal, but it does seem like RTW = sheeple

MR FE, if you contact your local Teamsters hall and ask them to support a card check effort. See what they have to say. Bet it is similar to what I posted.

Business has stacked the deck so high, that it was almost easier to organize at the turn of the last century.

 

[barnyard]

Reading through Teamster materials, it is obvious that they see better opportunities organizing Ground employees. Going to a PT workforce at Express supports the argument that FEE is an airline that does fit the RLA definition better than with all FT couriers. As time goes on and FT positions are eliminated for PT, I would suggest that it will make it even harder to organize Express. PT employees are the honey badgers of the labor world.

 

[MrFedEx]

Reading through Teamster materials, it is obvious that they see better opportunities organizing Ground employees. Going to a PT workforce at Express supports the argument that FEE is an airline that does fit the RLA definition better than with all FT couriers. As time goes on and FT positions are eliminated for PT, I would suggest that it will make it even harder to organize Express. PT employees are the honey badgers of the labor world.

Ground is an easier option because they don't fall under the Railway Labor Act like FedEx, the "airline". I don't see the rationale for FedEx being more of an airline with PT employees than with FT employees either. The "Express Carrier Exemption" clause of the RLA is pure BS anyway because there was no such thing as an express carrier in 1934, the year the RLA was enacted. REA was a delivery service tied to the railroads, but nothing like FedEx or UPS NDA. FedEx started the overnight business model in 1973, almost 40 years after the RLA was written.

Hey, we disagree, but you do ride a KTM, which proves you have merit as a human being.

 

[barnyard]

So how would you organize FEE????

More importantly, how would you pay for it??

Keep in mind, you have to get at least 51% of every eligible employee to sign.

 

[overallowed]

In all fairness, in 18 years at RPS and Ground, I have never seen anything resembling amembership push by the Teamsters.

Why wait on them to come to you, and spend our union dues on trying to unionize a membership base who doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to ever stand up to their bosses. Mobilize and invite the teamsters to come to you. Until you have had enough,the Teamsters are wasting money trying to organize FedEx ground.

 

[overallowed]

Hoffa has been a zero for us here at FedEx, and he's got a sheetload of people waiting to sign cards...and he does nothing. Here's what UPSers don't understand about FedEx. Just mentioning the union at FedEx will get you on a watch list, and if you actively try and organize..you are out the door.

I get so tired of you protected Teamsters telling us here at FedEx that we need to " stand-up for ourselves" and "Take Action". You're looking at it through the lens of your protective Teamsters cocoon, which we don't have. In fact, we have nothing. You start passing out flyers and you disappear..got it?

When you figure out that they can't fire everybody, you will be on the road to better pay and benefits.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Why wait on them to come to you, and spend our union dues on trying to unionize a membership base who doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to ever stand up to their bosses. Mobilize and invite the teamsters to come to you. Until you have had enough,the Teamsters are wasting money trying to organize FedEx ground.

Why in the world would a FedEx Ground contractor invite the union in to organize his employees??

 

[MrFedEx]

When you figure out that they can't fire everybody, you will be on the road to better pay and benefits.

If I walk-in tomorrow and start distributing cards in the breakroom (legal), FedEx will assign a manager to monitor my every action (illegal). If I stand outside the parking lot after work passing out info and cards, management will target me for immediate elimination by going back through my employee file to see if there is anything I have done that is a violation of policy that might allow me to be disciplined or fired. I will be watched, and given extra work if possible, or maybe have my route "realigned" by OSS, and generally harassed.

At the next weekly conference call, my name will be mentioned, and the MD alerted. If he thinks there is an overall movement towards a union, he'll fly out himself, and if it's dire, he'll call out the anti-union team in Memphis to come to the station.

UPSers simply do not understand the FedEx culture, which is that anything "union" is bad, and that to even talk about it is dangerous. No, they can't fire everybody, but they can intimidate most people, which has worked very well for them. Having the Railway Labor Act is the biggest problem, because there can be no such thing as local organization...it's all or nothing.

Like I said, unless you work here, you don't understand how difficult it is to organize from within at FedEx. That's precisely why there needs to be an external effort made, and that's where the Teamsters come-in. From their actions, or lack thereof, it's obvious the IBT doesn't have a clue how to organize FedEx.

 

[Bagels]

If I walk-in tomorrow and start distributing cards in the breakroom (legal), FedEx will assign a manager to monitor my every action (illegal). If I stand outside the parking lot after work passing out info and cards, management will target me for immediate elimination by going back through my employee file to see if there is anything I have done that is a violation of policy that might allow me to be disciplined or fired. I will be watched, and given extra work if possible, or maybe have my route "realigned" by OSS, and generally harassed.

What do you think happens to us Teamsters after we fire a grievance?

 

[PiedmontSteward]

Why in the world would a FedEx Ground contractor invite the union in to organize his employees??

FedEx Ground Sorting facilities fall under the NLRA and can be organized on a site-by-site basis. This excludes the FedEx Ground drivers. Why the IBT has yet to make a serious push on this, I don't know.

 

[PiedmontSteward]

From a purely business point of view, the IBT desperately needs new membership, so failing to pursue FedEx is bad business....not surprising considering your "leadership". FedEx employees are willing to take the initiative---we just need to know the Teamsters have our back, as in when Fred fires us that we will have a legal team ready and waiting to get our jobs back because we were let go for exercising our workplace rights. There also needs to be a national card-signing drive, which is as simple as having an IBT rep stand outside a FedEx facility and gather the signed cards. Whew!! Jim Jr. would get exhausted just reading this.

The iBT is dying a slow death, yet Mr. Hoffa doesn't seem very interested in reviving the patient. Why is that?

I agree with you - to a point. But organizing Federal Express would involve an enormous expenditure of organizers/resources/et cetera. As barnyard explained, it's tough. And FedEx can simply go on a PT hiring blitz in order to dilute the voting pool.

 

[barnyard]

FedEx Ground Sorting facilities fall under the NLRA and can be organized on a site-by-site basis. This excludes the FedEx Ground drivers. Why the IBT has yet to make a serious push on this, I don't know.

Because those are staffed by mostly PT workers. PT workers generally do not care. Plus there is the fact that PT generally has higher turnover than FT, there could be some, even many PT workers that sign a card, but are gone before a vote takes place.

Anyone that thinks the Teamsters do not think about how to organize a FE facility regularly, clearly have never spoken to a Teamster organizer.

 

[Bagels]

FedEx Ground Sorting facilities fall under the NLRA and can be organized on a site-by-site basis. This excludes the FedEx Ground drivers. Why the IBT has yet to make a serious push on this, I don't know.

They have. They were almost successful last year, getting enough support at a Ground facility in Brockton, MA to set-up a vote. But FedEx was successful in convincing employees to believe that a union wasn't their best option, and thus the Teamsters pulled out days before the vote was scheduled.

 

[MrFedEx]

Because those are staffed by mostly PT workers. PT workers generally do not care. Plus there is the fact that PT generally has higher turnover than FT, there could be some, even many PT workers that sign a card, but are gone before a vote takes place.

Anyone that thinks the Teamsters do not think about how to organize a FE facility regularly, clearly have never spoken to a Teamster organizer.

I have spoken to numerous Teamster organizers, and they are clueless. Until you understand the FedEx culture (and they don't), you cannot formulate a successful organization strategy. The Teamsters are weak, starting from the top down with Jimmy, because they don't want to play hardball with anyone, much less Fred S.

Right now, the only real big thing the IBT has is UPS. They are slowly withering away and need new membership. Unfortunately, they don't care enough to make the effort.

 

[Johney]

What I see is most of the Ground guys are running routes owned by someone else. So how exactly does that work when it comes to organizing for the Teamsters? Who do you go to the driver or the owner?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

What I see is most of the Ground guys are running routes owned by someone else. So how exactly does that work when it comes to organizing for the Teamsters? Who do you go to the driver or the owner?

The owner would have no interest and the driver would be given his walking papers if the owner found out he was talking to the union.

 

[Johney]

The owner would have no interest and the driver would be given his walking papers if the owner found out he was talking to the union.

What if the guy owns two or three routes, runs one himself and pays guys to run the others.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

What if the guy owns two or three routes, runs one himself and pays guys to run the others.

That would make for a very interesting union/mgt meeting, wouldn't it?

 

[barnyard]

I have spoken to numerous Teamster organizers, and they are clueless.

So, how would you organize FEE or FEG????

If the Teamsters are clearly clueless, you must have a plan.