FedEx mounts big-money push to head off unionization by US workers

[59 Dano]

Exactly, it will just take the right administration to put an end to the "Express is an airline that happens to own a massive fleet of vehicles on public roads"... considering that fleet of trucks is crucial to the operations where if the trucks that drive on public roadways disappear, the company is paralyzed. If Delta/United/AA lost all it's public road vehicles, it wouldn't cripple the company as airplanes are what is critical to its operation.

What happens if we lose our ability to fly planes? How does that impact our ability to operate?

 

[zeev]

Fred will not ever give into union, enough people don’t understand without being a unionized business they would not make anything, give them a few hotdogs and they’ll do anything. He ran a ground business right alongside Express just to keep them out.

 

[ManInBrown]

Ups exploits part-time labor...the union is complicit in that.there are guys doing 15 hrs a week at $9 an hr so a driver can make 36 an hr. the guy that made 95k above was doing tons of extra hrs. idk if he volunteered or not. Ups has an more efficient operation unlike fedex. ups takes advantage every tax loophole or break. for example ups managers/supervisors are effectively required to donate a % of their monthly salary to the united way. FedEx can afford the rates if they can consolidate n retain good package volume

Tons of extra hours? Lol. Nope try again. 40 hours per week is 82K-87K per year, depending on local. Some locals are a buck or two more per hour. That is not one second of overtime for the year. 5-7 hours per week is 100K.

 

[dupa]

CURRENT PAY RATE 37.64 TAXES
- REGULAR 37.640 40.00 1,505.60 FICA 140.01 6,031.47
- OVERTIME 56.460 13.33 752.61 FICA MEDICARE 32.75 1,410.59
- FEDERAL TAX 237.91 8,732.93
- CURRENT TOTALS 2,258.21 ST TAX- NC 98.00 4,156.00
- Y-T-D TOTALS 2,440.31 97,281.80 TOTALS 508.67
- DEDUCTIONS
-
- UNIONDUE 23.00 1,078.00
-

last check of year avg 43 hrs wk

 

[Cactus]

for example ups managers/supervisors are effectively required to donate a % of their monthly salary to the united way.

Sounds like extortion to me.

 

[Cactus]

What happens if we lose our ability to fly planes? How does that impact our ability to operate?

Settle down now drama queen.

 

[bacha29]

Look, whether you drive a parcel delivery truck regardless of it's color one fact remains. Due to an increasingly hostile public the sheer physical beating the job inflicts and the general effects of ageing you've only got just so many years doing it until you simply can no longer perform the duties. Therefore it comes down to the same inescapable question......How long do you think that you can withstand the physical beating and what will become of you when you can no longer do so?
Now if you can learn how to correctly pull the levers of the UPS system those questions will be answered. At Express there will be fewer and fewer people who will have that question answered and among the few who do the deal they will go away will not be so good and the new people coming in will go away with even less.

You see what's going on here? Both U and X are seeking to divest itself of as much so called "legacy costs" a cute little term used disguise retirement pension and retirement costs as they can and being nonunion Fat Freddy has more numerous and favorable opportunities to do so

At Ground outside of a very few contractors who offer a very modest employer funded benefit plans that pay little there's flat out nothing for them. If you can't keep up with the increasing workload you're not discharged or released .....you're simply disposed of. Of course there's no loyalty on the part of the employee. Why would you expect loyalty from the employee when there's none on the part of the employer?

 

[Cactus]

Yes, let's give people false hope.

Van, if you really feel that Fred can't afford a union that would require him to pay decent wages without playing a 20 year top-out game, why did you always complain you got screwed with raises and stagnant midrange pay? FedEx saved probably 1.5 billion dollars last year in taxes alone yet they discontinued that farce called the 10 step progression plan. Guess how much of that 1.5 billion trickled down to hourly employees? NOT ONE RED CENT. Then the cost of employees health insurance went through the roof. And you're worried about poor little Fred?

 

[59 Dano]

Look, whether you drive a parcel delivery truck regardless of it's color one fact remains. Due to an increasingly hostile public the sheer physical beating the job inflicts and the general effects of ageing you've only got just so many years doing it until you simply can no longer perform the duties. Therefore it comes down to the same inescapable question......How long do you think that you can withstand the physical beating and what will become of you when you can no longer do so?
Now if you can learn how to correctly pull the levers of the UPS system those questions will be answered. At Express there will be fewer and fewer people who will have that question answered and among the few who do the deal they will go away will not be so good and the new people coming in will go away with even less.

You see what's going on here? Both U and X are seeking to divest itself of as much so called "legacy costs" a cute little term used disguise retirement pension and retirement costs as they can and being nonunion Fat Freddy has more numerous and favorable opportunities to do so

At Ground outside of a very few contractors who offer a very modest employer funded benefit plans that pay little there's flat out nothing for them. If you can't keep up with the increasing workload you're not discharged or released .....you're simply disposed of. Of course there's no loyalty on the part of the employee. Why would you expect loyalty from the employee when there's none on the part of the employer?

 

[vantexan]

Van, if you really feel that Fred can't afford a union that would require him to pay decent wages without playing a 20 year top-out game, why did you always complain you got screwed with raises and stagnant midrange pay? FedEx saved probably 1.5 billion dollars last year in taxes alone yet they discontinued that farce called the 10 step progression plan. Guess how much of that 1.5 billion trickled down to hourly employees? NOT ONE RED CENT. Then the cost of employees health insurance went through the roof. And you're worried about poor little Fred?

When you and I were getting slammed they were diverting money into Ground infrastructure plus trying to keep up profits to pay dividends and keep the stock price up to enrich themselves. We were having to bear the brunt of it, especially midrange employees who worked 10+ years with minimal raises next to topped out employees who for that entire period were making considerably more. Now think about it. If they had the money you believe they have they could have done all of that and still paid us better, topped us out faster. As long as their core business is flying freight overnight they'll have expenses that keeps them from paying UPS type pay and benefits. It was only after building up Ground that they saw profits rise enough to implement a new pay plan but in their never ending quest to increase profit they miscalculated on TNT and probably other things. So once again they're putting it on the employees to suck it up and bear the burden of their mistakes. What I've been trying to point out is a union isn't a guarantee of better pay if the money just isn't there. And the company can be seriously hurt, even ruined if a union gets in and there's a strike. Ask Emery Airfreight about that. Someone pointed out how well he's doing at UPS. There's your answer right there if you want better pay. But I wouldn't count on that big pension if Ground continues to grow and take away market share from UPS.

 

[Cactus]

When you and I were getting slammed they were diverting money into Ground infrastructure plus trying to keep up profits to pay dividends and keep the stock price up to enrich themselves. We were having to bear the brunt of it, especially midrange employees who worked 10+ years with minimal raises next to topped out employees who for that entire period were making considerably more. Now think about it. If they had the money you believe they have they could have done all of that and still paid us better, topped us out faster. As long as their core business is flying freight overnight they'll have expenses that keeps them from paying UPS type pay and benefits. It was only after building up Ground that they saw profits rise enough to implement a new pay plan but in their never ending quest to increase profit they miscalculated on TNT and probably other things. So once again they're putting it on the employees to suck it up and bear the burden of their mistakes. What I've been trying to point out is a union isn't a guarantee of better pay if the money just isn't there. And the company can be seriously hurt, even ruined if a union gets in and there's a strike. Ask Emery Airfreight about that. Someone pointed out how well he's doing at UPS. There's your answer right there if you want better pay. But I wouldn't count on that big pension if Ground continues to grow and take away market share from UPS.

When it comes to better pay and benefits, Fred & Co. want you believe that FedEx is hurting, living hand to mouth, barely staying in business or scraping the bottom of the barrel etc. They tell Wall Street a different story. Don't fall for their BS.

 

[vantexan]

When it comes to better pay and benefits, Fred & Co. want you believe that FedEx is hurting, living hand to mouth, barely staying in business or scraping the bottom of the barrel etc. They tell Wall Street a different story. Don't fall for their BS.

They have to account for every penny to the government. So where's the money coming from to have every courier making $20k more in 4 years plus much better benefits? As a publicly traded company everything is put out there for investor consumption. So where's all this extra money because they aren't hiding it.

 

[SmithBarney]

They have to account for every penny to the government. So where's the money coming from to have every courier making $20k more in 4 years plus much better benefits? As a publicly traded company everything is put out there for investor consumption. So where's all this extra money because they aren't hiding it.

Where's it come from at UPS?
I suggest it can come from the top.

Unfortunately as long as there is a willing line of people at the door, there is no incentive to raise wages.

 

[Cactus]

They have to account for every penny to the government. So where's the money coming from to have every courier making $20k more in 4 years plus much better benefits? As a publicly traded company everything is put out there for investor consumption. So where's all this extra money because they aren't hiding it.

Well if UPS can do it so can Fred. Where he gets the money from is his problem.

 

[vantexan]

Well if UPS can do it so can Fred. Where he gets the money from is his problem.

 

[Route 66]

I like turtles.

 

[vantexan]

Where's it come from at UPS?
I suggest it can come from the top.

Unfortunately as long as there is a willing line of people at the door, there is no incentive to raise wages.

Look at how much they already pay in payroll. The profit that's leftover after all expenses won't come close to the kind of pay and benefits that's being talked about here. I realize this is a sacred cow of employees, that the only thing standing between them and really good pay and benefits is corporate greed, and certainly the company does try to squeeze as much as they can out of employees. But the numbers don't add up. The new pay plan is about as good as you can hope for. But FedEx needs to live up to their end of it.

 

[zeev]

Profits are a funny thing you pay your cronies and overstuffed overhead huge bonus’s and no profits.

 

[vantexan]

Profits are a funny thing you pay your cronies and overstuffed overhead huge bonus’s and no profits.

They aren't doing that however.

 

[Cactus]

Look at how much they already pay in payroll. The profit that's leftover after all expenses won't come close to the kind of pay and benefits that's being talked about here. I realize this is a sacred cow of employees, that the only thing standing between them and really good pay and benefits is corporate greed, and certainly the company does try to squeeze as much as they can out of employees. But the numbers don't add up. The new pay plan is about as good as you can hope for. But FedEx needs to live up to their end of it.

They saved a billion and a half on the latest tax loophole and you say where’s the money gonna come from?

Nice try but I say they need to just suck it up for a change. And I’ll never buy into their poorhouse stories.