Ricochet1a
Well-Known Member
Not for or against the Teamsters here. But this certainly does not seem to have been a "slam dunk". The union certainly must have had a good idea of how the vote was going to go, and must have known it was going to be overwhelmingly bad. Big win, close win, close loss, even moderate loss, the election is held. If the vote is held and its an overwhelming defeat, as bad as it looks now it would have been much worse. Not only bad for the employees of FedEx but also now for the Teamsters and even other Teamster barging units. Yup, the Teamsters cut their losses. Reality is that to unionize in the current enviorment, employees need to be willing to risk their job. Sign a card, risk your job. Vote for the union, risk your job. Vote the union in, try for a contract, risk your job. Untill the majority of FedEx employees are willing to risk it, there will be no union.
Of course it was a slam dunk - trying to get a shop of handlers in Massachusetts to organize... Very definition of a unionization slam dunk.
How could it of been worse if the election was held and it turned out to be a defeat? Unions get voted down all the time and keep on trying. The union trying to represent the flight attendants of Delta has been voted down 4 times in the past few years, yet they still kept on coming back. If that union would've pulled their petition for an election after they had filed and knew they wouldn't succeed, it would've been game over for that union, no Delta employee would've gone to the effort to have them try an additional 3 times and counting.
The Teamsters were worried about losing a bit of face with a defeat, so they sold out the handlers who risked their jobs and put their trust in the Teamsters - the going got tough and the Teamsters ran away. You're right on one thing, the Teamsters were FAR more concerned with their image and prestige with their existing membership and abiilty to use that in contract negotiations. If they are so worried about their ability to get favorable contracts that they ran at the first sign of trouble - in order to keep face - they will NEVER get into a company like FedEx. You seem to be suggesting "what is good for the Teamsters is good for the employees of FedEx" - even if the employees of FedEx get left standing in the cold with a cancelled union vote AFTER they went through the effort of getting one organized. That's not organized labor, that's riding a gravy train of revenue from existing union membership. This is the number one reason why employees don't trust unions, that the union will cut and run if it has to fight a little bit. We now know the Teamsters will cut and run rather than risk losiing a bit of face in their desire to organize FedEx.
Do you think the handlers of that terminal will ever trust the Teamsters to follow through again? Do you think the rest of FedEx employees - once this news gets out - will be willing to, as you put it "sign a card, risk your job". I've been there, I know what I'm talking about. There is risk, and there is stupidity - going through the process of getting a shop to get enough cards signed to get a certiification vote underway with the Teamsters is closer to stupidity than "risk" with the actions of the Teamsters on this one. What risk did the Teamsters take??? The handlers ended up basically slitting their own throats, because the Teamsters risk threshold was nil. So the lowly wage employee is supposed to take all the risk, while the Teamsters keep their reputation nice and shiny, no "hustle" for the Teamsters, just for the employees who risked their job for absolutely no gurarantee of return.
No, this was a defeat for the Teamsters, a defeat FAR greater than if they went through the election and lost it. The word is getting around Express, the Teamsters can't be trusted to follow through if the going gets a bit tough. I held out hope for the Teamsters till Thursday night, I carried more than a bit of water for them, not now. An Express employee would have to be certifiable nuts to sign an IBT union card and make it openly known in their station.