I thought gays were nut jobs...sorry, couldn't resist.
Captive Meeting In San Bernardino
- Thread starter irudedog
- Start date
I thought gays were nut jobs...sorry, couldn't resist.
DontThrowPackages
Well-Known Member
If you own 20 guns and have a hole in the ground full of supplies for when the time comes to take over the government, YOU ARE A NUTJOB. I'm not singling out anyone who owns a gun to protect his home, just the ones as in the example above.
Mr. 7
The monkey on the left.
With just this sentence, you left nothing else to be considered except that you think everyone that owns a gun is a nut job.
You didn't say anything like "what if some of these gun owners are nut jobs"?
DontThrowPackages
Well-Known Member
If I had said, this country is a food loving country and these fatAces eat 10 big macs a day for dinner, would you assume everyone who eats 1 Big Mac is a FatAce?? You're too defensive. I don't want your gun.
hypo hanna
Well-Known Member
I've been seeing meetings like these for years now. A little cheer leading is understandable but these meetings are all about distracting from actual issues etc.
r1a said more need to stand up and call them on the BS. Well I did that a few times and those fellow drivers who agreed with me I private sat on their hands and left me out on the limb.
r1a said more need to stand up and call them on the BS. Well I did that a few times and those fellow drivers who agreed with me I private sat on their hands and left me out on the limb.
In our recent SFA meeting I brought up how the new pay system is designed to keep midrange employees in the lower half of the pay range and strung along for a very long time. My mgr is a pretty good guy, but I saw a brief flash of anger on his face. They really don't want those who get it saying anything in front of those who don't.
Ricochet1a
Well-Known Member
Well... I've said that more need to recognize the B.S., then do the only logical thing to fight back - sign those damn rep cards.
Getting into senior management's face occasionally won't hurt (it does let them know the crap sandwich isn't going down smoothly, and they may decide to kick out a few extra bucks to keep you interested in the crap sandwich); however, getting into an all out shouting match isn't going to do you a thing - it will just put you on the radar for your station management to start building documentation against you in order to get rid of you.
What you experienced here, is what I wrote about in the analogy of my childhood 'confrontation' with Greg. Everyone wanted to bash his head in, but when the time came to actually do it, everyone else found an excuse to run away and I was left standing having to decide whether to do it by myself (and get my head bashed in), or to walk away. It was a lesson learned... know who your true friends are BEFORE you get into a fight
At this point, I've come to the conclusion that the Couriers aren't ever going to organize, NOT due to the RLA (the RLA just makes it a bit more difficult), but due to their own FEAR. They want to bash Fred's head in, but they won't take a stand and actually do it - they'll walk away every time.
About the only thing I can figure, is that it come down to this: the Couriers know they're worth more than what they are getting, but they are too damn AFRAID of losing what they have, in order to try to get what they are worth.
Simple as that...
In most organizing drives, the employees need to be pushed to the point where they don't feel they have much to lose - they HAVE TO be placed into that corner to get them to begin to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and to fight back. Express Couriers simply aren't there yet - if they ever will be. One hundred years ago, labor drives had the employers using hired thugs to beat and in some instances murder a few of the striking workers in order to instill fear into them to abandon their drive and return to work in the same atrocious conditions they began their strike over.
There just isn't enough disgust at Fred over the subpar conditions, to get a majority of Couriers to stand shoulder-to-shoulder to do something. So the status quo continues. The fear of losing what you have surpasses your disgust at Fred over what you should be getting - so the Couriers take no action and continue getting Fred's volume moved.
There is plenty of discontent out there, but the discontent isn't enough to overcome the fear that is also out there. Everyone has been talking about the poor SFA scores this year - doesn't mean a damn thing and Express management knows it.
Everyone out there is pissed off about what they are being compensated (especially compared to UPS), but they won't commit to getting together and building organization to actually do something about it. Oh, everyone talks tough (even here), but when it comes right down to it, I haven't heard of more than a HANDFUL of instances of a poster here stating that they've reached out to another station to begin to build network to get an organization drive off the ground. It has been 2 months now since the latest installment of crap sandwich (no pay raise) - and other than a couple of weeks of bitching about it - NOTHING of substance has happened.
Hell, I saw a completely USELESS debate with the Ground contractors over the legitimacy of their business models occur yesterday. What in the hell does that get you as an Express Courier?
For my final postings, I'm writing up a series of posts, detailing how an organizing drive is much like a military operation - and for it to succeed, certain principles MUST be adhered to in order to achieve success. To date, I've seen NOTHING even remotely resembling what is needed in order to achieve success in this 'war' (taking on a multi-billion dollar corporation is war, make no mistake about it). Virtually EVERYONE here has made it clear that they don't have the time or inclination to do what is really needed to make a drive in the face of the RLA succeed - that is establish NETWORK and get organizers in 400+ stations.
When Couriers state they don't have the time or inclination to do what is really needed to change the situation - what they are saying is that they are waiting for someone else to do the heavy work, then they'll join in once the objective is in sight.
Everyone has lamented about how difficult it is (it would indeed take work), then has taken the line of thought that they'll join in a drive if SOMEONE ELSE gets the ball rolling and does all the hard work. Doesn't work like that, everyone is standing around saying they'll join in once the critical momentum is established, but none of those standing around is willing to actually put their shoulder to the ball and begin the process of moving it towards the objective (an organized Express). So the same ol' same ol' occurs here - lots of talk about the need to get to the objective, but no COORDINATED working together in actually getting that ball moving. Fifty cats running in different directions not getting anywhere...
There's lots of beating the drums of discontent, marching in a circle and shouting about how bad things are, BUT no progress in actually moving towards the objective and achieving success.
Well, maybe next time everyone thinks to themselves..... and it goes on and on and on and on....
DOWNTRODDEN IN TEXAS
Well-Known Member
This is so true. When you do everything in your power to get the ball rolling, there are few who will actually help you roll that rock up the proverbial hill, and it is an uphill battle. There are many who will tell you "I want the union in, what do I do?" and when you tell them that we need to get cards signed and get the word out, they start to get nervous because if the right word (union) goes in the wrong ear, here comes the brute squad to quash it. I am one of the ones that has done my part and I know I am worth more than what I get, but I am afraid of losing what little I have.
DontThrowPackages
Well-Known Member
An employer can fire a person for attempting to organize a union?
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
Technically and legally...no. But that has never stopped FedEx from trying, and usually succeeding.
NonyaBiznes
Yanked Out My Purple-Blood I.V. In 2000!
Haven't I seen you in Walgreens, scratching you head with some RR's?
'Lord Brown's bidding'
Well-Known Member
What's stopping Freight from organizing? I was once told FedEx treats them slightly better than other opcos because if they (Freight) are pushed even with minimal effort they could go union in a heartbeat, and yet conditions there may be WORSE than Express?! Is it that hard for them to organize just one terminal?
Joe Nuno
Well-Known Member
Change FedEx To Win
You should contact Teamsters joint council 42 and see the acceleration of the campaign for FedEx freight.
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
Joe, please enlighten us as to what some of the issues are at FedEx Freight. I know about outsourcing of freight, and the general level of discontent, but exactly what are some of the games FedEx is playing with you guys?
Joe Nuno
Well-Known Member
There is discontent here because of constant pressure on work procedures (snap shot) or what we call, constructive termination. Were one day you must do it this way , then weeks or months later this way! We are all human and make mistakes. But with so many rules you can fall through the cracks and lose your job.
I know ex employees who have lost thier jobs here and every single one say that even though they are making less money and maybe longer hours to recoup their pay they we're making at Fdx they all don't miss the pressure of working here!
I had a safety issue with taking a 48ft trailer on my route, there's a lot of country club residential deliveries. When I brought this up I was told if I had a problem with it ,they can get someone else to run the route!
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
This sounds all too familiar.
