Smith's Luncheon With Obama

[MrFedEx]

Do you think the RLA deal may have come-up during polite conversation? If any of you remember, Fred had a similar lunch with Bill Clinton just before special language protecting the FedEx Express Carrier exemption was sneaked into the 1997 FAA Bill.

Fred is a chameleon, able to work his magic with both parties with his deep pockets. Remember that this is the same man who headed McCains's campaign finance committee and also supported Bush. His money speaks loudly and well.

 

[FedExer267]

If Smith is rubbing elbows with Obama we are all screwed.. It absolutly amazes me that FedEx will sponsor the PGA tour and put a race car on the track every week however it cant afford to pay its employess well enogh to survive. They also cannot pay their contractors well enough to give their drivers a decent wage so we drain the economy more by being on government assistance just to get by. Some on here paint a rosey picture of being a contractor however there are many diffrent opinions on other websites. Lets face it Its not the first time a canidate made promises that he will renig on because he is being swaded by the old mighty dollar. Fix and protect middle class jobs is what he said I do believe but it has always come down to protecting the wealthy and screwing the rest.

 

[bbsam]

Not a rosy picture of being a contractor, merely the facts. With Ground, that is the natural progression for a driver. Being a contractor beats the snot out of driving for one. Being a multi-route owner--all the better.

 

[MrFedEx]

Not a rosy picture of being a contractor, merely the facts. With Ground, that is the natural progression for a driver. Being a contractor beats the snot out of driving for one. Being a multi-route owner--all the better.

Perhaps the Ground issue also came-up during lunch. The bigger the check, the more a politician tends to listen. As the middle-class quickly slips away, just how are we supposed to buy the consumer items that keep our economy going? For example, I'd love to have a new Camaro too, but instead of buying myself a toy and helping power the US economic engine, I'm going to hang onto my car for a few more years. How does FedExer267 participate if his low wages and non-benefits require the defacto subsidy that others have mentioned?

 

[FedEx courier]

It's a slap in the face that Obama campaigned on being a champion for the working class and now he's saying he admires CEO's like this.

 

[bbsam]

It's a slap in the face that Obama campaigned on being a champion for the working class and now he's saying he admires CEO's like this.

I admire UPS but that doesn't mean I don't want to take more business away from them. We are going to have to have luncheons and dialog with Corporate America. Like it or not, they hold the power. That we treat them like an enemy is like suggesting we get into a trade war with China, or an armed conflict with Iran and North Korea--short-sighted and just plain stupid. Noone wins in that scenario. It's going to take a talented politician to strike a workable balance and by most accounts, Obama is that.

 

[MrFedEx]

I admire UPS but that doesn't mean I don't want to take more business away from them. We are going to have to have luncheons and dialog with Corporate America. Like it or not, they hold the power. That we treat them like an enemy is like suggesting we get into a trade war with China, or an armed conflict with Iran and North Korea--short-sighted and just plain stupid. Noone wins in that scenario. It's going to take a talented politician to strike a workable balance and by most accounts, Obama is that.

Obama was supposed to be pro-labor. Just the act of sitting-down with Smith is cause for alarm because he is a major power broker, especially since the RLA question has yet to be settled. Do you think that Smith would even want to meet with Obama if the decision had already gone against FedEx? He'd be pouring all of his money into the Republican Party instead. Our Fred, always the opportunist ready to go to bat for his beloved workers. It's really disturbing that our political process operates off of the almighty dollar and that even the President will stoop to taking money from an anti-labor corporatist like Fred. Mr. Obama, you have poor taste in dining partners.

 

[FedExer267]

Fedexer267 does not participate his low wages and non benefits mean one thing you the American working force pays for my government assistance to surivive. They raise the taxes you will pay more for me to survive. I do not see how one who works 50 to 60 hours a week and still can qualify for assistance. It shows you exactly what is wrong with America today. It use to be middle class america that kept the Country going but now middle class is more like poverty. If things keep going in this direction sooner than later the rich will pay more than there fair share afterall its their greed thats killing the economy. The rich stay rich write checks to cover their butts and screw the little guy who is making them those billions of dollars.
JMO here but the last time I checked FedEx to the consumer was not some suit that sits in his air conditioned office in Memphis or some Contractor that owns the route its the men and women the consumer deals with everyday the frontlines of the company that makes them their money. Take care of your frontlines the ones who make the money for you and they may go the extra mile to insure you get more business.
I have said it before but we all know you get what you pay for which in this case is not much...

 

[lreadl]

I’m a new to posting on this forum. MrFedEx, you describe the FedEx Express employee experience with lucidity and indignation. (Be careful of White Whales on your journey). It parallels my own encounters with management during my time with this blood sucking, corrupt corporate Vampire. However, it’s going to take far more than a “wooden stake” and some “holy water” to “kill” this monster. FedEx culture is nothing more than a manifestation of the faded, post industrial, consumer culture masking itself as free enterprise. It’s about servitude. Whom do you serve? You, serve corporate masters, the Uber- rich. FDX is just one of the many bad corporate actors in this American empire melodrama. Regardless if FedEx Express has a Teamster union or not, the “storm” that is engulfing this country will make any labor organization pointless. FedEx Express corporate culture began more than 37 years ago because former UPS management helped Colonel Fred get off the ground. I suspect they instilled in him and others on how to use fear and intimidation (corporate bullying) as employee motivators. Every time I talked with a package car drivers about FDX management they always said it “mirrored their own management team”. But, if you look at this problem in a deeper historical perspective, then things start to look like the Ante Bellum days of the confederate south. FedEx is really a 21st century neo fascist southern plantation with a republican, right wing, fundamentalist twist. Subjugation is not wholly based on skin color anymore. Liberty is removed through debt. You’re not even one of the servants in this banana republic paradise, you’re the De facto farm animal of the servant. Protect your family first, Don Quixote, because revolution cometh!

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I think the above post clearly shows why marijuana should not be legalized.

 

[MrFedEx]

I’m a new to posting on this forum. MrFedEx, you describe the FedEx Express employee experience with lucidity and indignation. (Be careful of White Whales on your journey). It parallels my own encounters with management during my time with this blood sucking, corrupt corporate Vampire. However, it’s going to take far more than a “wooden stake” and some “holy water” to “kill” this monster. FedEx culture is nothing more than a manifestation of the faded, post industrial, consumer culture masking itself as free enterprise. It’s about servitude. Whom do you serve? You, serve corporate masters, the Uber- rich. FDX is just one of the many bad corporate actors in this American empire melodrama. Regardless if FedEx Express has a Teamster union or not, the “storm” that is engulfing this country will make any labor organization pointless. FedEx Express corporate culture began more than 37 years ago because former UPS management helped Colonel Fred get off the ground. I suspect they instilled in him and others on how to use fear and intimidation (corporate bullying) as employee motivators. Every time I talked with a package car drivers about FDX management they always said it “mirrored their own management team”. But, if you look at this problem in a deeper historical perspective, then things start to look like the Ante Bellum days of the confederate south. FedEx is really a 21st century neo fascist southern plantation with a republican, right wing, fundamentalist twist. Subjugation is not wholly based on skin color anymore. Liberty is removed through debt. You’re not even one of the servants in this banana republic paradise, you’re the De facto farm animal of the servant. Protect your family first, Don Quixote, because revolution cometh!

No Ahab fantasies here. I'm just a poor FedEx "sharecropper" that would like to see Fred harpoon himself with some sort of political scandal.

 

[The Mayor]

Obama was supposed to be pro-labor. Just the act of sitting-down with Smith is cause for alarm because he is a major power broker, especially since the RLA question has yet to be settled. Do you think that Smith would even want to meet with Obama if the decision had already gone against FedEx? He'd be pouring all of his money into the Republican Party instead. Our Fred, always the opportunist ready to go to bat for his beloved workers. It's really disturbing that our political process operates off of the almighty dollar and that even the President will stoop to taking money from an anti-labor corporatist like Fred. Mr. Obama, you have poor taste in dining partners.

From my understanding from our local news, Fred wasn't the only CEO to go to the White House to meet with the President. The top 100 company's in America CEO's (I think from the Fortune 500 Magazine) were all invited to have a discussion about jobs and job creation because of the condition of the current economy. If I am wrong here and it was just the two of them, then I apologize up front and will admit my ignorance. But from what I heard, it was nothing more than that. I know our management acts like the almighty Fred, savior of the world, was the only elephant in the room, however; that just is not true.