An Unjustified Competitive Advantage

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
Since it's inception FedEx Express has successfully kept the vast majority of its workers from organizing by claiming it maintained a "separate network" to deliver its packages and was an airline, despite the fact that a large percentage of its parcels actually move exclusively by truck and never see an aircraft. Fred S has always claimed that allowing Express to be reclassified would threaten US commerce and cause tremendous disruption to the US economy. He made the same claim when FedEx pilots successfully organized under ALPA, and there was no effect on the economy except to fatten the bank accounts of pilots.

Smith has faced 2 big campaigns to reclassify Express, the first in 1996, and the second in 2010. The FAA Reclassification Act of 1996 included a specific exemption for FedEx after intense lobbying, and the protection language was inserted into the bill at literally the last minute. To beat back the 2010 challenge, Smith spent $21.1 million in 15 months to lobby against reclassification and called the proposed changes a "Brown Bailout". This is when he also threatened to yank a $6.7B order for 30 777s from Boeing with the option for 15 additional planes if Express employees were reclassified. In the end, he prevailed and the RLA gift was maintained.

At the time, Smith argued that "UPS does not handle their air shipments in a separate and distinct network that ties directly into their air operation as Express does". In other words, except for separate networks, there is NO difference between FedEx and UPS. Separate networks are what differentiates the 2 companies is what Smith has always maintained.(His own words).

Yet now, the Express and Ground networks have been COMBINED, exactly like UPS, which creates a totally unjustified competitive advantage for FedEx. Fred S and his underlings call this combination "a business innovation" and argue that nothing has changed, which is an utterly ridiculous assertion that is patently false. FedEx has been combining their operations for years and has always moved a large percentage of packages directly by truck, bypassing the airline component of Express. And now, FedEx is blatantly and openly combining Express and Ground into a hybrid business model that takes advantage of even lower wage Ground drivers and the "independent contractor" scam that exerts severe levels of company control over supposedly independent business owners. Ground drivers and contractors are held to corporate standards, blurring the lines between independence and total FedEx control. Another gift that keeps on giving.

FedEx spends big money to make all of this happen. Their head lobbyist is Trent Lott, former Senate Majority Leader, and his underlings include a veritable "Who's Who" of important former politicians, mostly Republicans. All of those millions pay-off handsomely as in the results of the 2017 Trump Tax Bill, for which FedEx pulled out all the stops and opened the bank vault. When the bill passed, FedEx saw its tax payments drop from $1.5B in 2017 to ZERO in 2018. Fred S promised to invest the savings into new equipment and employees. Instead, he plowed $3.6B into stock buybacks, largely ignoring another worthless promise.Probably a few more aircraft got added to the Executive Fleet as well.

Given the present Express business model it would seem inexplicable that FedEx would be able to maintain its RLA status for Express employees and its distinct and completely unjustified competitive advantage over rival UPS. Fred and his successors have bilked the US taxpayer, prevented employees from having any realistic chances at unionizing to improve substandard wages and benefits, and spent hundreds of millions of dollars working the US political system to preserve classification under the RLA. It's shameful, wrong, and an illegal interpretation of labor law(s). As a result, FedEx is able to keep compensation and benefits sub-par, prevent any meaningful labor organization, and maintain a highly advantageous non-level playing field in comparison to UPS. Fred and his operatives have direct access to the most powerful politicians whenever they want. Lott and staff personally know them and can directly call, pledge, and influence in order for FedEx to continue to have things "their way" at the expense of everyone else. Yes. Mr. Smith "Went To Washington", but it was for his own purposes, not the rest of us. "Sure. Mitch, we can get the family to Aspen for a McConnell family reunion. All you have to pay is the taxes for your own private jet services". These days, FedEx is mostly an executive "airline" for the political elite to use at their whim.

It's time for this charade to be exposed and ended once and for all.
 
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bacha29

Well-Known Member
Since it's inception FedEx Express has successfully kept the vast majority of its workers from organizing by claiming it maintained a "separate network" to deliver its packages and was an airline, despite the fact that a large percentage of its parcels actually move exclusively by truck and never see an aircraft. Fred S has always claimed that allowing Express to be reclassified would threaten US commerce and cause tremendous disruption to the US economy. He made the same claim when FedEx pilots successfully organized under ALPA, and there was no effect on the economy except to fatten the bank accounts of pilots.

Smith has faced 2 big campaigns to reclassify Express, the first in 1996, and the second in 2010. The FAA Reclassification Act of 1996 included a specific exemption for FedEx after intense lobbying, and the protection language was inserted into the bill at literally the last minute. To beat back the 2010 challenge, Smith spent $21.1 million in 15 months to lobby against reclassification and called the proposed changes a "Brown Bailout". This is when he also threatened to yank a $6.7B order for 30 777s from Boeing with the option for 15 additional planes if Express employees were reclassified. In the end, he prevailed and the RLA gift was maintained.

At the time, Smith argued that "UPS does not handle their air shipments in a separate and distinct network that ties directly into their air operation as Express does". In other words, except for separate networks, there is NO difference between FedEx and UPS. Separate networks are what differentiates the 2 companies is what Smith has always maintained.(His own words).

Yet now, the Express and Ground networks have been COMBINED, exactly like UPS, which creates a totally unjustified competitive advantage for FedEx. Fred S and his underlings call this combination "a business innovation" and argue that nothing has changed, which is an utterly ridiculous assertion that is patently false. FedEx has been combining their operations for years and has always moved a large percentage of packages directly by truck, bypassing the airline component of Express. And now, FedEx is blatantly and openly combining Express and Ground into a hybrid business model that takes advantage of even lower wage Ground drivers and the "independent contractor" scam that exerts severe levels of company control over supposedly independent business owners. Ground drivers and contractors are held to corporate standards, blurring the lines between independence and total FedEx control. Another gift that keeps on giving.

FedEx spends big money to make all of this happen. Their head lobbyist is Trent Lott, former Senate Majority Leader, and his underlings include a veritable "Who's Who" of important former politicians, mostly Republicans. All of those millions pay-off handsomely as in the results of the 2017 Trump Tax Bill, for which FedEx pulled out all the stops and opened the bank vault. When the bill passed, FedEx saw its tax payments drop from $1.5B in 2017 to ZERO in 2018. Fred S promised to invest the savings into new equipment and employees. Instead, he plowed $3.6B into stock buybacks, largely ignoring another worthless promise.Probably a few more aircraft got added to the Executive Fleet as well.

Given the present Express business model it would seem inexplicable that FedEx would be able to maintain its RLA status for Express employees and its distinct and completely unjustified competitive advantage over rival UPS. Fred and his successors have bilked the US taxpayer, prevented employees from having any realistic chances at unionizing to improve substandard wages and benefits, and spent hundreds of millions of dollars working the US political system to preserve classification under the RLA. It's shameful, wrong, and an illegal interpretation of labor law(s). As a result, FedEx is able to keep compensation and benefits sub-par, prevent any meaningful labor organization, and maintain a highly advantageous non-level playing field in comparison to UPS. Fred and his operatives have direct access to the most powerful politicians whenever they want. Lott and staff personally know them and can directly call, pledge, and influence in order for FedEx to continue to have things "their way" at the expense of everyone else. Yes. Mr. Smith "Went To Washington", but it was for his own purposes, not the rest of us. "Sure. Mitch, we can get the family to Aspen for a McConnell family reunion. All you have to pay is the taxes for your own private jet services". These days, FedEx is mostly an executive "airline" for the political elite to use at their whim.

It's time for this charade to be exposed and ended once and for all.
If there is a recession and the industry overall has a completely overwhelming level of excess capacity , you might just see one or more carriers decide that they've had enough and launch a concerted effort to finally end a new emerging business practice that lands completely outside the bounds by which Fat Freddy was granted his exemption. You knew something was up when a couple of years ago the Fedex Home Delivery logo and brand was remove from the HD trucks. And it's my understanding that new Ground wagons coming in no longer say Ground on them.

Then again, you want them to continue to say Ground on them because as a result you're going to see Ground labeled trucks pulling into driveways to deliver air box labeled freight. People will soon or later say...." WHY is this coming on a Ground truck but I'm being billed for air freight? Invariably, they're going start believing that this box came the entire distance on truck and never saw the inside of an airplane.

This is an entirely new type of con Fat Freddy is running, but he's twice already cried "wolf" claiming that without his exemption the nation's economy would suffer irreparable damage. Might be a lot tougher this time around given that he's obviously running a new con that would do nothing else other than to pad his bottom line.
 

59 Dano

I just want to make friends!
TL;DR: I don't know anything about the RLA and I don't know anything about how the labor board(s) and courts apply it or interpret it, so I'll just ignore all that and post the same dumb horse manure about it that I've posted a hundred times already and that literally no one in the entire world outside of about 4 people on this board even take seriously.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
TL;DR: I don't know anything about the RLA and I don't know anything about how the labor board(s) and courts apply it or interpret it, so I'll just ignore all that and post the same dumb horse manure about it that I've posted a hundred times already and that literally no one in the entire world outside of about 4 people on this board even take seriously.
You were on here like stink on you know what. Let's all pretend nothing has changed and everything is the same in The Emerald City. Also, let's talk about FedEx Airlines, the one that moves people, not freight. I'll bet the Second Coming of Il Duce, his family, and many friends are all Frequent Flyers on Fred's jets.After all, Agent Orange saved him $1.5 B. Again, you don't speak to the actual subject at hand, which is Fred and Raj using Ground to move Express products. What they're doing goes directly against their own claims about FedEx, as I've demonstrated in an exact quote from Freddo in 2010. Those words ring a little hollow these days, except to sycophants who serve him, don't they? UPS and FedEx...the same thing.

And to bacha's point. Why eliminate the Ground and HD colors and logos. Gee, Wally, could it be that FedEx doesn't want you to know who delivers or line hauls your package? Yeah, maybe that's why. The average person just sees a FedEx truck and Fred and Raj know that. In reality, re-branding and eliminating the distinction does more to bolster the case against FedEx trying to remain under The RLA. The BS about "disrupting the national economy and preventing vital packages from reaching customers, blah, blah, blah" is pure garbage, and you know it, shill.

It isn't hard to smell a rat, especially a big, fat Memphis variety. You fell into the trap...again.
 
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bacha29

Well-Known Member
Granted, it is early to start sizing up the combatants until several questions are first answered such as,: What are DHL's plans? Is Bezos going full blown common carrier? Is Maersk going to fly air freight which company executives has openly discussed? Is XPO going to haul small box? Something that has been rumored. Will the USPS and Fat Freddy have a falling out?

Good chance the global economic and geopolitical landscape could look at lot different than it does right now and that could bring on changes that we cannot envision (except Dano lol) at the present time . But a couple of years from now......?
 

bacha29

Well-Known Member
TL;DR: I don't know anything about the RLA and I don't know anything about how the labor board(s) and courts apply it or interpret it, so I'll just ignore all that and post the same dumb horse manure about it that I've posted a hundred times already and that literally no one in the entire world outside of about 4 people on this board even take seriously.
4? I think that number might be a little high. But, don't worry Dano.....we still think the world of you. In fact we think just as highly of you as your mom does. Although I have to admit ,we probably wouldn't do the kind of things your mom did just to get you your job back.
 

59 Dano

I just want to make friends!
Given the present Express business model it would seem inexplicable that FedEx would be able to maintain its RLA status for Express employees
The present Express business model is that Express couriers perform first and final mile transport of air cargo. Just like always. Why do you insist that that's not the case?

There's a saying with a name that escapes me (like Murphy's Law) that goes something like "an issue that is so clear cut that it is beyond dispute will undoubtedly be disputed beyond reason."
 
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59 Dano

I just want to make friends!
4? I think that number might be a little high. But, don't worry Dano.....we still think the world of you. In fact we think just as highly of you as your mom does. Although I have to admit ,we probably wouldn't do the kind of things your mom did just to get you your job back.

What's it like having the highest ratio of words posted to words ignored of anyone on BC?
 

59 Dano

I just want to make friends!
The FAA Reclassification Act of 1996 included a specific exemption for FedEx after intense lobbying, and the protection language was inserted into the bill at literally the last minute.
What specific exemption and protection language is that?
 

MAKAVELI

Well-Known Member
The present Express business model is that Express couriers perform first and final mile transport of air cargo. Just like always. Why do you insist that that's not the case?
Except for Alaska and Hawaii. Express will no longer be a separate OPCO with separate systems. You are deliberately ignoring the facts that FedEx is combining the two systems along with Freight. RLA status will be challenged and removed in the near future.
The company has also identified $2 billion in annual savings starting in fiscal 2025 from Network 2.0, which effectively brings to an end the siloed operating model of the past 50 years and replaces it with a unified and integrated network.

FedEx has chosen Alaska and Hawaii as key testing grounds to merge FedEx Express and Ground operations. It is expected that similar initiatives will be rolled out across the contiguous 48-state network.
 
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It will be fine

Well-Known Member
Except for Alaska and Hawaii. Express will no longer be a separate OPCO with separate systems. You are deliberately ignoring the facts that FedEx is combining the two systems along with Freight. RLA status will be challenged and removed in the near future.
The company has also identified $2 billion in annual savings starting in fiscal 2025 from Network 2.0, which effectively brings to an end the siloed operating model of the past 50 years and replaces it with a unified and integrated network.

FedEx has chosen Alaska and Hawaii as key testing grounds to merge FedEx Express and Ground operations. It is expected that similar initiatives will be rolled out across the contiguous 48-state network.
I’m not entirely sure how they are doing it in Alaska and Hawaii but when Ground stopped operating in Puerto Rico they just switched all freight to Express. You can’t select Ground as an option to PR now, you have to use Express.
 

bacha29

Well-Known Member
Except for Alaska and Hawaii. Express will no longer be a separate OPCO with separate systems. You are deliberately ignoring the facts that FedEx is combining the two systems along with Freight. RLA status will be challenged and removed in the near future.
The company has also identified $2 billion in annual savings starting in fiscal 2025 from Network 2.0, which effectively brings to an end the siloed operating model of the past 50 years and replaces it with a unified and integrated network.

FedEx has chosen Alaska and Hawaii as key testing grounds to merge FedEx Express and Ground operations. It is expected that similar initiatives will be rolled out across the contiguous 48-state network.
Anybody want to hazard a guess here as to what is happening? By the sound of things only high value extremely urgent shipments will go Express and air cargo that will end up on Ground contractor trucks will be flown on third party air contractors like MESA, ATLAS ATSG etc.

This will work for awhile until Ground collapses under the sheer weight of the excessive demands being placed on it.
 

MAKAVELI

Well-Known Member
I’m not entirely sure how they are doing it in Alaska and Hawaii but when Ground stopped operating in Puerto Rico they just switched all freight to Express. You can’t select Ground as an option to PR now, you have to use Express.
On the FedEx website Ground is still an option for Alaska and Hawaii.
 

MAKAVELI

Well-Known Member
Anybody want to hazard a guess here as to what is happening? By the sound of things only high value extremely urgent shipments will go Express and air cargo that will end up on Ground contractor trucks will be flown on third party air contractors like MESA, ATLAS ATSG etc.

This will work for awhile until Ground collapses under the sheer weight of the excessive demands being placed on it.
It's a recipe for disaster. I guess we'll find out more in April. But from the sound of it FedEx will be a cluster friend mix of systems. We thought it was bad now, just wait till DRIVE and Network 2.0 are fully implemented. FedEx will be one huge dumpster fire.
 

Mutineer

Well-Known Member
Since it's inception FedEx Express has successfully kept the vast majority of its workers from organizing by claiming it maintained a "separate network" to deliver its packages and was an airline, despite the fact that a large percentage of its parcels actually move exclusively by truck and never see an aircraft. Fred S has always claimed that allowing Express to be reclassified would threaten US commerce and cause tremendous disruption to the US economy. He made the same claim when FedEx pilots successfully organized under ALPA, and there was no effect on the economy except to fatten the bank accounts of pilots.

Smith has faced 2 big campaigns to reclassify Express, the first in 1996, and the second in 2010. The FAA Reclassification Act of 1996 included a specific exemption for FedEx after intense lobbying, and the protection language was inserted into the bill at literally the last minute. To beat back the 2010 challenge, Smith spent $21.1 million in 15 months to lobby against reclassification and called the proposed changes a "Brown Bailout". This is when he also threatened to yank a $6.7B order for 30 777s from Boeing with the option for 15 additional planes if Express employees were reclassified. In the end, he prevailed and the RLA gift was maintained.

At the time, Smith argued that "UPS does not handle their air shipments in a separate and distinct network that ties directly into their air operation as Express does". In other words, except for separate networks, there is NO difference between FedEx and UPS. Separate networks are what differentiates the 2 companies is what Smith has always maintained.(His own words).

Yet now, the Express and Ground networks have been COMBINED, exactly like UPS, which creates a totally unjustified competitive advantage for FedEx. Fred S and his underlings call this combination "a business innovation" and argue that nothing has changed, which is an utterly ridiculous assertion that is patently false. FedEx has been combining their operations for years and has always moved a large percentage of packages directly by truck, bypassing the airline component of Express. And now, FedEx is blatantly and openly combining Express and Ground into a hybrid business model that takes advantage of even lower wage Ground drivers and the "independent contractor" scam that exerts severe levels of company control over supposedly independent business owners. Ground drivers and contractors are held to corporate standards, blurring the lines between independence and total FedEx control. Another gift that keeps on giving.

FedEx spends big money to make all of this happen. Their head lobbyist is Trent Lott, former Senate Majority Leader, and his underlings include a veritable "Who's Who" of important former politicians, mostly Republicans. All of those millions pay-off handsomely as in the results of the 2017 Trump Tax Bill, for which FedEx pulled out all the stops and opened the bank vault. When the bill passed, FedEx saw its tax payments drop from $1.5B in 2017 to ZERO in 2018. Fred S promised to invest the savings into new equipment and employees. Instead, he plowed $3.6B into stock buybacks, largely ignoring another worthless promise.Probably a few more aircraft got added to the Executive Fleet as well.

Given the present Express business model it would seem inexplicable that FedEx would be able to maintain its RLA status for Express employees and its distinct and completely unjustified competitive advantage over rival UPS. Fred and his successors have bilked the US taxpayer, prevented employees from having any realistic chances at unionizing to improve substandard wages and benefits, and spent hundreds of millions of dollars working the US political system to preserve classification under the RLA. It's shameful, wrong, and an illegal interpretation of labor law(s). As a result, FedEx is able to keep compensation and benefits sub-par, prevent any meaningful labor organization, and maintain a highly advantageous non-level playing field in comparison to UPS. Fred and his operatives have direct access to the most powerful politicians whenever they want. Lott and staff personally know them and can directly call, pledge, and influence in order for FedEx to continue to have things "their way" at the expense of everyone else. Yes. Mr. Smith "Went To Washington", but it was for his own purposes, not the rest of us. "Sure. Mitch, we can get the family to Aspen for a McConnell family reunion. All you have to pay is the taxes for your own private jet services". These days, FedEx is mostly an executive "airline" for the political elite to use at their whim.

It's time for this charade to be exposed and ended once and for all.
Except for Alaska and Hawaii. Express will no longer be a separate OPCO with separate systems. You are deliberately ignoring the facts that FedEx is combining the two systems along with Freight. RLA status will be challenged and removed in the near future.
The company has also identified $2 billion in annual savings starting in fiscal 2025 from Network 2.0, which effectively brings to an end the siloed operating model of the past 50 years and replaces it with a unified and integrated network.

FedEx has chosen Alaska and Hawaii as key testing grounds to merge FedEx Express and Ground operations. It is expected that similar initiatives will be rolled out across the contiguous 48-state network.

Many on this board are former or current box-donkeys for Fat Freddy's Funhouse.

The vast majority of us don't disagree with your assessments, and would very much enjoy seeing the Top Brass squirm. We are also NOT the ones who need convincing, and are also maybe not quite as passionate about this.

Maybe turn the passion into action, inform the proper authorities, and contact yer congress-critters?
 

bacha29

Well-Known Member
It's a recipe for disaster. I guess we'll find out more in April. But from the sound of it FedEx will be a cluster friend mix of systems. We thought it was bad now, just wait till Drive and Network 2.0 are fully implemented. FedEx will be one huge dumpster fire.
I hope Fat Freddy is a good cat herder. But if he thinks that he can control all of these contractors like his own employees , cuffing and slapping them around , threatening them....man is this going to be fun to watch.....So let the layoffs begin.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
What specific exemption and protection language is that?
Last minute amendment attached to The 1996 FAA Airport Bill by Senator Ernest Hollings stating that FedEx would remain RLA classified. The House subsequently approved the bill, with the amendment, by a 218 to 198 vote.
 
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