In our winner-take-all economy where the filthy-rich, get filthier and richer, and the workers get their paychecks and benefits squeezed and slashed - workers are standing up. And, more and more we're standing together.
The IBT (International Brotherhood of Teamsters) has reached out to the Fed Ex workers to help them unionize. Fed Ex labels their drivers "independent contractors" instead of "employees" so they can get around paying benefits, and make the drivers lease their own trucks (costing the workers $40,000). Click here for more information. And, here to sign a petition urging Fed Ex Ground to treat their drivers fairly.
12/13/2007
Workers Standing Up: FED EX
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11 comments:
Sure, they're treated unfairly but at least they get to wear shorts.
ups drivers get to wear shorts AND be in a union.
Why should I give a damn about FED EX drivers? Have you seen the wait list to get one of those jobs? It's very long.
Somebody needs to fess up: the WGA wants to unionize all kinds of industries, don't they?
WGA writers may soon need their own guild.
Move to Europe, ru4surreal, you might learn something. Of course, your IQ will drop in other areas to compensate. Such is the nature of the beast.
These kinds of blog posts are well meaning, but they DILUTE OUR MESSAGE. Worse, they give comfort to the AMPTP which is trying to paint us as labor radicals.
If what you guys want is to reform the labor movement in general, that is a lofty goal that perhaps should be pursued in a way that doesn't lump the rest of the guild in with you.
We have built enormous good will based on the simple facts of what has transpired so far. We have offered reasonable proposals. The AMPTP has negotiated in bad faith, even going so far as to issue an illegal ultimatum and walking out of the negotiations. Don't squander these powerful truths. Don't pontificate on issues that are so inconsequential to this negotiation that they cannot even charitably be considered side issues.
Stay on message.
triple7 - check out WGAstrikehawk.blogspot.com - I think you might enjoy it...
Triple7, thank you.
Noble as organizing may be, it is NOT the point of this strike. Make a deal on new media, plain and simple. Then we can all go back to work.
triple 7.
If you read just a few posts you might see that UH must believe, in addition to a deal on new media, that the strike is about the little guy, solidarity, being fair, and a strong union(s). Believing in these ideas doesn't make you a labor radical, just human.
Not all FedEx is what you think. You are talking about FedEx Ground, just one part of the company. The owner/operators of FedEx Ground knew what they were getting in to when they bought their trucks. FedEx Express is a different company under the FedEx banner, and they are employees (and as far as I know DON'T want to unionize). Get ALL the info before you start feeling sorry for people.
Signed, the wife of a FedEx Express guy... who wears shorts everyday and loves his job.
Since the strike I have sent ALL my packages for Christmas UPS because their drivers are Teamsters and have backed the WGA. I will continue to do so after the holidays with my business mail. I have stopped using FedEx altogether.
If the FedEX drivers want to unionize, let them. We should support them in their goal. There is no reason that one cannot focus on the current strike and support other unions efforts at the same time. Look at the Teamsters, they manage. As much as people name call, this country grew strong on the backs of labor.
I think that solidarity across industry is what gives workers so much strength in the first place. When the Teamsters went on strike in Minneapolis in 1934 it was in part because the bosses tried to divide out the labor force between inside and outside workers. What got them all strong fighting unions and their demands for wages was the fact that they struck together and did not scab.
The AMPTP is going to paint you in a negative light regardless of what you do, it won't save you any grief by not supporting the Fed Ex workers. I think it will weaken your strength if you separate yourselves from them and it can't really hurt you if they are in the union.
Lastly I think that we really need labor radicals and I don't think the population would be against that. People want to fight and they need examples of how to do it. You folks are leading the charge.
I'm in the International Socialist Organization and we have been coving your strike since it started in our weekly newspaper. www.socialistworker.org
Solidarity Forever!
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