FED X

Thats exactly what I've beem hearing from the FXF drivers I've spoken to on my route

 

It was as plain as the nose on your face what was happening.Fedex had been testing the waters to see just how much its drivers would bend.And they broke before bending.

 

Fed ex drivers is under paid. My AO the package car driver is being paid $16.50 an hour ( compared to ups 60-90k a year ). Not really sure about tractor trailer. I doubt they make over $30hr and triple time on holidays
Strictly talking about company drivers. The Ground guys, It's like playing the lottery, Could find a great contractor or not.

 

If I felt that I was being mistreated by the company where I worked, I would first talk to the company and see if things could be worked out. If not, I would find a company where I would be better treated. I would not have considered getting a lawyer to beat up on them or pushing for a union to come in and shake the company down. Things are really out of control in this country. The first thing people seem to want to do when they get their feeling hurt or someone says something they don't like is to find a lawyer to beat up on them.

 

Look G/MAN about half the drivers have complained over the years about management and how they are treated and another quarter of them agree with the complaints. The quarter that agrees with the complaints don't say anything after seeing time and again that nothing changes when half of the drivers complain about getting treated very unprofessionally (borderline if not flat out harassament) and having rules made up out of thin air on the spot that threaten them losing there job. The point of the matter is this. Fedex will never change it's ways on it's own. That's just a given considering how they have operated over the years. Drivers and dock workers do quit there over treatment but a lot of them don't because it's one of the best paying jobs out there. The drivers know that and the company knows that the drivers know that and that is why they treat them such. The company's view and your view as well apparently is that you all are paid good money so shut the **** up. When you are young like I was (and still am) you are more likely to walk away and not put up with it. But if you have a family, bills to pay, and/or were a long time driver for a company that fedex bought out and merged into itself you are very likely just going to take the punishment...that is until you can't anymore and you approach the teamsters about getting better treatment which is exactly what fedex drivers have done.

 

G/MAN, Cody has a point.

I'm very anti-union. I worked at a place where management bent us over at every turn, to the point of taking our lunch break away. Yes, it was union. And the mighty Teamsters did NOTHING. It wasn't a RTW state, so once they got in, they figured all they had to do was keep charging dues and flip us the bird. To put it mildly, I was extremely dissatisfied.

But loyalty is a two-way street. When a company takes care of their employees and treats them fairly, the workers don't see any need to organize. The majority of us purple people work here because it ISN'T a union shop. Yes, we have a bit less pay. Yes, our benefits aren't what union outfits get. But we were cool with that as long as we were treated fairly. Now, it seems like many folks don't see that to be the case. When there are stories circulating of supervisors on the roof with radar guns, trying to catch people doing over 10mph in the yard...when people are fired for not using 3pt contact getting out of their truck...there's a big difference between enforcing policy and salivating at any excuse to fire people.

When this is the atmosphere, it makes people angry and frightened. And angry, frightened people don't want an apology or a free burger cookout; they want REVENGE. Being a boss yourself, G/MAN, you should understand the simple axiom, "Take care of your people, and the profits will take care of themselves." If FX has forgotten this, well then, they really did bring this union thing on themselves, through their own stupidity and arrogance. Whether we like unions or not...they exist, they have a certain measure of power, and the best way to keep them out of your business is not to keep pushing your employees until they snap.

Personally, I hope this can be resolved without FX being unionized. If it happens, I may go somewhere else. Then again, I might not. I have bills to pay, a wife with health issues, and I'm getting too dang old to start over again.

I dunno. I've found myself in the middle of what I once saw as a black and white situation. I need another beer and some sleep.

 

When I was a pup...

When I was a pup, my first tractor-trailer job manager told me work 3 weeks on dock, then I'd go linehaul. Okay, fine. After 3 weeks was still on dock, had not yet seen light of day or more than a driver or two. Finally met some drivers when went on days (6 weeks later), learned there was no linehaul.

Pissed, we got pledge cards. Knew nothing about union. Divided ourselves into groups and no one knew who was in what group. Our most senior driver told me, "You watch, if you win he'll close on Friday and open on Monday under a different name. Done it before. You won't be called back to work Monday. I will." In time, he became a strong union man.

Held the cards back until drivers were demanding to know when we'd turn the cards in to the union. We won the vote, won a 5-day strike where same manager claimed they would just shut down until reached agreement with union. First tried to bust our line directly. We stopped that. Then tried to run the freight through other firms. We discovered that and stopped it.

So we won our strike, too. Did not get scale, our 'sweetheart' contract (to a new, formerly non-union firm at less than scale) still gave everyone a raise of 50% give or take.

Outfits that treated their employees badly back then got what they deserved. Today the States of California and New York are re-defining compensable time and tweaking the ears of bad outfits.

Companies still haven't learned...