MrFedEx
Engorged Member
The passage of the streamlined FAA Reauthorization Act and the delay in dealing with the FedEx language clause has put the union issue on the back burner...for now. Fred has essentially been granted a temporary reprieve because the issue is a stalemate in Congress.
Now that there isn't going to be a union any time soon, look what FedEx has done in the form of ramping-up the demands upon us. And it isn't going to stop. As FedEx2000 (a manager) pointed-out recently, if you don't perform up to expectations, you'll be gone. This means even more pressure to drive fast, cut corners on methods, and sort pkgs or do pickups while you're supposed to be on break. This is what they want...free labor, at least during what's supposed to be your 28/29 or 13/14.
There are some couriers who will always be able to make their numbers, but there are many others who are going to have to cheat in order to do it. As the overall quality of employee gets progressively lower, the incidence of trying to "beat the system" is bound to increase sharply.
The irony of this is that you can't fulfill the vaunted Purple Promise to the customer, nor can you be safe out there. How many of us are going to be killed or injured by having to continuously do unsafe things just to keep our jobs? Worse, how about the general public? If it comes down to speeding through a residential area, or losing your job, most people are going to speed. I can just see it now, with a courier driving like crazy on a 25 mph street, trying to find that address, when some unsuspecting child is in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's 10:27, you must not have any lates, and the driver is in full panic mode because they cannot afford another OLCC.
It's impossible to be safe for most of us under the current conditions in place at FedEx. I hope that the company is hit with huge lawsuits if and when a tragedy occurs, because their insane drive for production and profit underlies all of this. The unrestricted power of the RLA continues, and they will never stop increasing demands until we have a means of saying no.
Now that there isn't going to be a union any time soon, look what FedEx has done in the form of ramping-up the demands upon us. And it isn't going to stop. As FedEx2000 (a manager) pointed-out recently, if you don't perform up to expectations, you'll be gone. This means even more pressure to drive fast, cut corners on methods, and sort pkgs or do pickups while you're supposed to be on break. This is what they want...free labor, at least during what's supposed to be your 28/29 or 13/14.
There are some couriers who will always be able to make their numbers, but there are many others who are going to have to cheat in order to do it. As the overall quality of employee gets progressively lower, the incidence of trying to "beat the system" is bound to increase sharply.
The irony of this is that you can't fulfill the vaunted Purple Promise to the customer, nor can you be safe out there. How many of us are going to be killed or injured by having to continuously do unsafe things just to keep our jobs? Worse, how about the general public? If it comes down to speeding through a residential area, or losing your job, most people are going to speed. I can just see it now, with a courier driving like crazy on a 25 mph street, trying to find that address, when some unsuspecting child is in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's 10:27, you must not have any lates, and the driver is in full panic mode because they cannot afford another OLCC.
It's impossible to be safe for most of us under the current conditions in place at FedEx. I hope that the company is hit with huge lawsuits if and when a tragedy occurs, because their insane drive for production and profit underlies all of this. The unrestricted power of the RLA continues, and they will never stop increasing demands until we have a means of saying no.