Fed Ex Media Campaign - Gloves coming off

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
PC I was just asking for thoughts not dissertations. I have given up reading your posts because of the length.

Let me rephrase the question. Can Fred financially survive the passing of this bill?
 

PobreCarlos

Well-Known Member
dilligaf;

Ok, I'll keep it short.

Sure, Fred can "financially survive the passing of this bill".

Wish it weren't so, but it most likely is.

P.S. - If you consider a three [short!] paragraph post a "dissertation" when made in response to a comment/question of....

"I'm sure there are things that I haven't even thought of. What do you think?"

....then I believe there are many who will understand just WHY Fred will "financially survive". People like Fred S aren't normally financially devastated by those who keep their heads buried in the sand.
 

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
LOL PC Yes, your earlier post was 'short' compared to many of your other posts. Your earlier post did not answer my question. You talked about the Teamsters and unionizing. That isn't where I was going with the question so I rephrased it.

I am a relative new comer (less than 5 years) to this scene and don't know a lot about Fed Ex. Please save the space and don't enlighten me. If I really wanted to know that much I would read the Fed Ex forum.

Anyone else care to wade in on the question. :peaceful:
 

JimJimmyJames

Big Time Feeder Driver
Can Fred financially survive the passing of this bill?

Not if he expects to unfairly profit at the expense of many of his employees as he has been doing. FedEx has been able to compete with us, in my opinion, solely because of their lower labor costs.

If the Express division tries to unionize, FedEx may unite the companies many divisions. Why? If, like us, they use one truck basically to deliver all of their services out of, maybe they can still be competitive. I believe it is our more efficient delivery system that allows us to be competitive with them. They might simply replicate ours.

Now, will they then have all of these united employees be "independent" contractors, in order for FedEx to remain non-union? That would be an interesting move. But I think one of the reason they do not make the Express drivers contractors now is because I don't think that model lends itself to the rigid time commitments and level of service demanded by the express customer.

If an Express driver is being paid a pittance, you will probably get the same service you can expect from a McDonald's employee.
 

PobreCarlos

Well-Known Member
dilligaf;

Given that. from "Fred's" perspective, the "Teamsters and organizing" represent the only real impact of the passage the legislation in question, then I would think that, in terms of answering ....

"Can Fred financially survive the passing of this bill?"

...there's not much of place where you otherwise COULD be going with your question...or where any response that sought to answer your question in a reasonable manner could otherwise go, either. It's simply the be-all and end-all of the subject. No way around it.

With that in mind, please spare me the "If I really wanted to know that much I would read the Fed Ex forum."....since it occurs to me that, if such was the case, you wouldn't have asked the question in the first place. I.e. - why would you ask about something if you DIDN'T "want to know" about it?

Anyway, sorry if you found my answer unsatisfying. Guess we're back to that "head in the sand" attitude again....which, of course, reinforces my contention that Fred probably doesn't have a heck of a lot to worry about.
 

PobreCarlos

Well-Known Member
JimJimmy;

I mostly agree with what you're saying. However, I'm not so sure about the contractor model dying. In terms of a cost/benefit ratio, that MIGHT (again, "might") continue to make business sense, particularly if FedEx is able to continue switching from the single-driver contractor model to the multiple-employee contractor model as it's been doing since before the California court decisions of a few years back. Bear in mind that, even if the employees "go union", FedEx can simply dispose of the contractors that employ them (much as Airborne did a few years back) and hire another contractor that is more amiable.

Not saying that's the way it should be, but that it's the way things might turn out. And, truthfully, it's a tough nut to crack, particularly since there's the impression that the customer base doesn't see a major differential between the employee and contractor model in terms of service.

Lastly, I think the reason that FedEx hasn't turned the Express side to contractors is that (1) they hadn't figured the "contractor" lesson out until they learned it from RPS, and (2) once they DID figure it out, it was too late because they already had "employees" in place which couldn't be arbitrarily replaced (easily and inexpensively, at least) even under the prevailing Railway Act labor law. If they started over now, I'm fairly confident that FDX would probably pursue the contractor model at "Express" as well.
 

PobreCarlos

Well-Known Member
Lest we forget, UPS spent a lot of time, money, and lobbying effort to have FedEx taken out from under the Railway umbrella in 1995 (?)....and the Teamsters did absolutely nothing with the opportunity they were presented with. That opportunity lasted until 1996, at which time the opportunity ended when Fred's time, money, and lobbying effort got FedEx back under "Railway" protection status.

Given all that, he may be shaking now....but, seeing how he's closing in on the end of his lifetime, and he's made it this far, I tend to doubt [regrettably!] that he's shaking all that hard.
 

Leftinbuilding

Well-Known Member
UPS better fire back, and fire back hard! Is there no liability in such a blatant lie? If UPS can get the truth out there, that alone may finish Fedex.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
YouTube - Bailout with UPS
If this isn't asking for trouble I don't know what is.

The blackboard guy needs an encounter with Head and Shoulders. Now that I've actually seen this, Smith is going to wind-up looking like a fool. I especially like the accusation that UPS has failed to innovate...another lie.

Hey Hoaxter, here's some more invective. How about "smarmy"? Or how about "greasy", as in blackboards boy's hair? Mine are mild compared to those I hear at work, which rhyme with brother trucker, grass-hole and fun of a stitch. If you think he was loved before, this new campaign has made Fred loathed even more by the people who once respected him. Watching your check dwindle away every week has that effect on workers, something most of you don't understand either because it hasn't happened at UPS.I'm not just talking about losing-out on a couple of hrs of OT...I'm referring to wages that are 10 years behind the inflation curve and work rules and top-out times that would have all of you walking-off the job. At least you have the power to do something to protect your interests..we don't.

One thing UPSer's don't understand about Fred is that he is FedEx. Even though it's a publicly held company, Fred still runs the show. There are plenty of managers who disagree totally with the direction he's taken Express, but they know to disagree is the end of the road.

Brownbailout.com is Smith's baby. He might have even thought it up himself.
 

PobreCarlos

Well-Known Member
Yes,
But even UPS doesn't have air hub in IND. The main air hub for UPS is only what 90 miles south in Louisville Ky.

Mike57;

In spite of quoting it in its entirety, perhaps you didn't read the post of mine you were responding to. In it, I wrote.....

"With that in mind, I noticed that the Indianapolis Star's article today had a side-bar that stated "FedEx has one hub in Indianapolis" on one line, then a second line that said "UPS doesn't have any" (or the equivalent). Now, while Indy may not have a UPS AIR hub, to the best of my knowledge, it DOES have TWO regular hubs....but if you got your information solely from the newspapers blurb, you'd never know that."

Given that, I'm not sure what your comment was meant to convey. Could you give me a clue?
 

unionman

Well-Known Member
UPS better fire back, and fire back hard! Is there no liability in such a blatant lie? If UPS can get the truth out there, that alone may finish Fedex.
I volunteered to help with the Teamsters Fedx mechanics drive, talking to my fellow mechanics at Fedx and trying to get them to sign a card. UPS has a 4 to 1 mechanic to aircraft ratio while Fedx has a 7 to 1. How am I suppose to convince a Fedx mechanic to go union when I'm getting laid off even though UPS has the least amount of aircraft mechanics in the industry. On top of that, I ran into an ex colleague of mine who has been working for Fedx for three years and he said that Fedx is hiring more mechanics and to top it off I have been with UPS longer, and I make 13 dollars an hour less than him.
Our union has been negotiating for three years on a contract with no sign in site of an agreement. Our president even wrote a letter to Davis asking him to get involved with no reply. I ask you, who does UPS have a beef with, Fedx or there employees

.
 

hellfire

no one considers UPS people."real" Teamsters.-BUG
I volunteered to help with the Teamsters Fedx mechanics drive, talking to my fellow mechanics at Fedx and trying to get them to sign a card. UPS has a 4 to 1 mechanic to aircraft ratio while Fedx has a 7 to 1. How am I suppose to convince a Fedx mechanic to go union when I'm getting laid off even though UPS has the least amount of aircraft mechanics in the industry. On top of that, I ran into an ex colleague of mine who has been working for Fedx for three years and he said that Fedx is hiring more mechanics and to top it off I have been with UPS longer, and I make 13 dollars an hour less than him.
Our union has been negotiating for three years on a contract with no sign in site of an agreement. Our president even wrote a letter to Davis asking him to get involved with no reply. I ask you, who does UPS have a beef with, Fedx or there employees

.
Dead on man,, what are we rallying for? ............. a constant stream of technology that tells us we are incompetent at our job?? allways being told that we need more and more and more production?? we had a pcm this morning about this,, we were told to mention all of this to potential customers... yeah right,, give me another pickup,,tighten production so much that i need 200 total stops to have a 8 hr day.........then come to me to save your arse.......no way,,use your precious technology to tell us how dumb and UNTRUSTABLE us stupid drivers are,, that will save you
 

upssalesguy

UPS Defender
Dead on man,, what are we rallying for? ............. a constant stream of technology that tells us we are incompetent at our job?? allways being told that we need more and more and more production?? we had a pcm this morning about this,, we were told to mention all of this to potential customers... yeah right,, give me another pickup,,tighten production so much that i need 200 total stops to have a 8 hr day.........then come to me to save your arse.......no way,,use your precious technology to tell us how dumb and UNTRUSTABLE us stupid drivers are,, that will save you

such a bad attitude. srsly, take it to another thread.

our business is evolving. this is going to allow us to offer ONE MORE THING over fedex. eventually you will be able to track your package right down to what time it will be delivered.

remeber when drivers didnt have diad boards? now we can run our business without them.
 

tieguy

Banned
UPS better fire back, and fire back hard! Is there no liability in such a blatant lie? If UPS can get the truth out there, that alone may finish Fedex.

UPS has sent out internal memo's basically saying they are not going to get into a public press war. Looks like a pcm coming out for tommorrow.
 
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