Friday, April 10, 2009

Employee Free Choice Act: The Ed Show

17 comments:

Paul Reibson said...

This Employee Free Choice Act is a great thing and it is going to help the workers of Fedex a great deal. There will be no more following employees into bathrooms, upper management harassing them about Unions singling them out for hours at a time, or harassing employees watching them while they take their breaks. I witnessed this first hand and was a victim of this harassment. With the Employee Free Choice Act coming to fruition now Fedex will no longer be able to pull their scare tactics and anti Union campaign. Now the workers of Fedex need to come out of the corners and rise up and support their Union and help drive up the wages and benefits earned per hour. This will benefit all employees and help these employees maintain a better way of life.

Anonymous said...

very good video and interesting comments so when do we find out if this passes and when is the next meeting. we need to get some facts out to the folks that are non belivers. maybe this is a good time for all employees, ground express freight national and home to meet and see what we need to do as a unit.

Anonymous said...

HURRAY!!!!First time I've heard an intelligent interpretation of this act since it began circulating.
Heard plenty of the big business(Fedex),"this will take away the secret ballot",hype.
Armed with these factual talking points we need to spread them to our fellow labor brothers and sisters.
They WILL NOT SPREAD BY OSMOSIS,we need to ACTIVELY spread them.
This would include communicating them to our elected officials,talk shows and any other entity that has a negative opinion of the act.
Our future depends upon the success of this act.
Think about it,just about every talking head on tv or in print media acknowledges the the MIDDLE CLASS,is being eradicated.
Wages are stagnant,benefits are being cut or drastically reduced,your job security is non-existent(witness what's taking place at Fedex Freight if you need an example).
WE-LABOR-are losing ALL the gains we've made for the past 40 years at least.
"It's the economy causing all this",you reply.Well here's a quote from Rohm Emanuel,President Obama's chief of staff.(paraphrasing)"What good is a crisis if you can't get in all the things you couldn't get in under normal circumstances".
This is exactly what Fedex-Mr Fred Smith-and his army of corporate minions are utilizing to accomplish what they couldn't under normal circumstances.
Is it easy to counter these tactics? NO.But doing nothing will only result in far worse consequences.
Thus moving out of your comfort zone to join the struggle will require inconvenience,discomfort,allocationof time to devote to the effort,countering negative response to your efforts,and other things too numerous to mention.YET IT'S ALL WORTH IT.Unless you like being second class with all its consequences.
Think about it.
Frank Zunt
aka Frankiez
As always,DON'T SHOOT the MESSENGER
P.S.Had to post as Anonymous,my'puter is in the shop.

Anonymous said...

"we need to get some facts out to the folks that are non belivers."

Man, you can get all the facts you want out there, but facts are only a part of it. A union is about the TEAM. People need to feel the brotherhood because brothers listen to brothers, i.e. you suppport me and I support you. 'Belief' is for church; 'brotherhood' is for a team.

"maybe this is a good time for all employees. . ."

'Maybe,' hell! There is no question that this is good for everybody!

I think Mr. Reibson up there has the makings of a good shop steward! And Mr. Anonymous, you got yer foot in the door, now walk on in and sell this baby! We sure could use you two up here in the N.W.!

I couldn't be prouder of the people I've been reading out here.

Mr. Hatfield said...

When the 'Evil-Doer' of the linehaul turned in his uniforms, turned around, and dropped his pants in front of the Fedex video cameras, the place got a little colder and I got a little older.

Have a hell of good life, Evil-Doer; you're missed more than you'll ever know!

Anonymous said...

"WARNING TO MANAGERS IN DEVORE SERVICE CENTER" Fraternizing with the opposite side of employees or Quid Pro Quo is illigal. We know about a certain employee dropping her car off at an Arco gas station and being pickup by a manager and then being dropped off on later hours. If this continues we will report this to the Labor Commission and Harrison Arkansa.

Anonymous said...

www.teamster.org/content/teamsters-denounce-fedex-acceptiong-award-country-guilty-widespread-labor-violations

Anonymous said...

From: Frank Zunt (aka Frankiez)

"In Dubai, hundreds of thousands of workers are forced to live in squalid labor camps and work 18 hours a day to earn about $1 an hour.

A Human Rights Watch report in November 2006, “Building Towers, Cheating Workers,” reported that the UAE government “has abdicated almost entirely from its responsibility to protect workers’ rights by investigating, prosecuting and remedying abusive and unlawful conduct by employers toward the construction workers.”

The abuses include unpaid or extremely low wages, several years of indebtedness to recruitment agencies for fees that UAE law says only employers should pay, the withholding of employees’ passports, and hazardous working conditions that result in apparently high rates of death and injury.

Last year, Dubai’s criminal court sentenced 45 immigrant Indian workers to prison because they went on strike for better working conditions. The sentence was in violation of the International Labor Organization’s Convention 87 on freedom of association."

This is from the Teamster's response to Fedex being awarded an atta boy in the Middle East.
Heard that Fred Smith was interested in incorporating some of the Middle East's labor policies
into his U.S. operations.
Wait a minute he already has.
Think about it.The above article may be,"extreme",but proportionally we are suffering the same consequence as our labor brothers and sisters in the Middle East.We are just starting out with a higher standard of living.
Think about it.That's why we(our ancesters) came here for A BETTER WAY OF LIFE!!!
A TEAMSTERS UNION CONTRACT will preserve and perpetuate that way of life.
Always remember,that if you have something of value someone else wants it.That includes your standard of living,your way of life and those things you take(en)for granted.Especially those that(by an employer)were promised NEVER to be taken away.
Need I say more?

Anonymous said...

This will put america in a deeper hole if it passes, i wonder how much he got paid to say all this junk

Anonymous said...

Let's say this Act--passes and during the 90 days.

Example--
FedEx pays Drivers 25 per hr
Union wants Drivers to make 40 per hr

Then after the 90 days the 3rd party says OK
On day 91 Drivers will now make 35 per hr.

What is to keep fedex from closing down the center and moving the freight to a National or other freight center?

Frank?? Your Thoughts?
Rudy?? Your Thoughts?
Joe??
Cliff?

Anyone else?

irudedog said...

For one thing, the union doesn’t dictate what the employees make. It’s up to the employees to request a increase in pay the union. And as far as the closing or moving of work, it’s the burden of the company to show proof that there is hardship to the company to keep the terminal open.
Thank you mister manager for your question. Next time put your name.

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous;
THE CONTRACT IS NEGOTIATED.
You know what negotiation is?
That's when the parties come together and ultimately agree upon a CONTRACT that is mutually beneficial to all parties.
THEN that PROPOSAL(contract) is voted upon by the rank and file-thats us.
If it is favorably voted upon by a given number of the rank and file it will be signed by the COMPANY and the TEAMSTERS and become the standard by which we operate.
If it is not passed by a sufficient number of the rank and file it goes back for more NEGOTIATONS and the process starts all over again.
Your next comment will probably go something like this-oh,since you ASSUME quite a bit I've taken the liberty to do likewise.
"Yeah,a contract just like the UAW(United Auto Workers)got and look what it did to the automobile industry."
Yeah,but remember the industry IGNORED its slip in quality,reliability and other standards that equate whether a company stays in business or fails.The foreign manufacturers saw the void and filled it.
Viola!!!A industry in trouble.
However,the main point of discussion is the CONTRACT and it was NEGOTIATED;more importantly by people who are PROFESSIONAL NEGOTIATORS-that is they get paid to negotiate contracts.
As to the company closing down a facility to thwart union activity,or moving the work to another branch/division.
Suggest you refer to the NLRB(National Labor Relations Board)
Totally illegal,but your myopic(narrow minded)interpretation of facts will no doubt result in more of the same.
That is unless you are a management type that's been instructed to flood the blogs with counter measures to thwart the organizing efforts.
Well if the latter is the case you are in violation of labor law for attempting to interfere with organizing efforts.
In any case your efforts are feeble or inept or both.
That is BRING IT.
Once we get a contract to protect us from the likes of you we'll let by-gones be by-gones.
Signed-not afraid to put my name to that which I believe in.

FRANK ZUNT
aka Frankiez

Anonymous said...

DONT KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND REALY DONT CARE. IF FRED WANTS TO OR ALLOWS OTHERS TO RIP OFF MY BENEFITS, CHANGE MY WORK HOURS, KILL MY SENIORITY, DAMAGE MY FAMILYS RIGHT TO A BETTER EDUCATION BY MAKING ME PART TIME AND TAKING THERE LUNCH MONEY AWAY SO HE CAN MAKE HIS 5 MIL, DONT EXPECT US TO STAND THERE AND TAKE IT. WERE ALL HEADED TO THIS PARTY TOGETHER. SO MOVE THE FREIGHT TO GROUND OR NATIONAL AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS BECAUSE THEY ARE JUST AS CONCERNED AS EVERYONE ELSE AND THEY WILL NOT BE LEFT OUT. TEAMSTERS WE WILL BE VERY SOON. SEE YA AT THE TDC IN MAY.

Anonymous said...

Change the supervisors and get some people who respect us as men and woman thats a start. Why keep these overpaid managers that care more about whats for lunch and when is the next smoke break anyway, Oh ya its whenever I feel like it Im not on the clock anyway Im mgt. We need a binding contract that's it. Simple and easy bring the teamsters to fedex and bring your pen. United we stand brothers and sisters.

Anonymous said...

as we have seen fedex does not care about people, they care about money and they have pushed us into a cornor with all this harassment. because we have no faith in them to provide for our future. they have showed us we have no voice here and they do not care about us one way or the other. so please join us sunday in orange and see what we can do for each other. the teamsters may have the answers were looking for but until we become one as in union we will continue to lose much needed benefits and working conditions. all these non belivers have let there brothers down up to this point. look over to your left and right and take a look at your fellow employees some have lost everything already and others will too unless we stand toghther. the teamsters cannot help those who dont care enough about their fellow workers. but in the end these same people will be asking for our help when they come for their benefits and that shoe is about to drop real soon.

Anonymous said...

Some of these coments are real thoughful and carry a message that all of us need to convey. Fedex is a business and were the labor so that being said Im reminded that most of this started 5 years ago when fedex allowed seniority and respect to fall by the wayside. Some of us came from other jobs looking for a better life and some from the American Freightways, Coles and Viking buy outs. Some of these employees have put in 10 15 20 years one way or the other to make ends meet and have a better life for them and their family. Now with the pension freeze and the loss of benefits comes the new part time status for alot of us who have been here. Have we been wasting our time making fedex the best in the business. It sure looks and feels that way, so why would anyone want to work under these conditions, Because we lost too much to change jobs now. Starting over at 50 would really put me in the poor house so I'm fighting for my rights, and my pride as well as the future of all employees that work here now or that may work here in the future. Its a shame when you have to beg for something that you have worked so hard for in the first place. Im for the employee free choice act not because i want to get back at fedex however It Is due to the changes that have taken place all over the system putting people out of work or cutting their benefits and the total package that they (we) belived was Earned by working hard for a great company. Go Fedex and go teamsters. Fedex said these changes were needed and now we can also say this change is needed. The teamsters have been with fedex anyway look at Europe and the Pilots union. They have a contract Why cant we.

Anonymous said...

give the employees a chance at supervision and you could save 400000 thousands dollars over the next year or so. we cannot be that lame anyone can run dispatch and the docks for much less than those other folks. give it a try.