A Blue Ribbon Commission Report • March 2009

"Keeping FedEx Jobs in the
Middle Class in Los Angeles"

Commissioners
Congresswoman Linda Sanchez
Los Angeles Councilman Bill Rosendahl
Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, United Methodist Church

Must read report from Clergy,U.S.Representives,City Counciilmen, Economist, Analyst and FedEx employee's of Express,Ground,Freight and Aircraft Mechanics.

To Read The Full Report : Click Here

FedEx Threatens The U.S. Congress!

Today FedEx announced that they would halt the purchase of new planes for the Express division if Congress would change the NRLA rules that would move drivers and mechanics out from under the NRA to NRLA rules. This would make it alot easier for those employees to organize their division of the company.

Showing once again, Fred (I'm not anti-union) Smith's true colors. Once again FedEx does not have the employee’s best interest at heart. That FedEx, Wall Street and Corporate America are a bunch of PUNKS! They don't give a damn about the working people of America.

ABC’s World News Tonight reported that with the new cuts announced March 19, 2009. "FedEx hopes to save about $1 billion with the cuts in fiscal 2010, which starts in June." If FedEx does these cuts, they could pay for those planes in 4 years! Or where is all that money really going to? Maybe it will go to CEO’s bonuses?

THE FEDEX WATCH DOGS

Ticket Reporting Consequences

Gentlemen;
I am a Lifemember of OOIDA and enjoy reading your articles in "Landline".
Prompted by your invitation to submit questions to you I submit the following:I am a linedriver for Fedex Freight, Inc.
Newly implemented rules require all drivers (city and line) to submit to corporate safety department within 24 hours receipt of a citation.This requirement does not present a problem.
The issue many of us have is that the company will register the original ticket into your file and utilize it to determine your employment status.
We feel that if we manage to negotiate the ticket to a lesser charge or get it dismissed entirely that the company should recognize the final charge and not the original charge.
The question.
Do we have valid legal standing?
If so what would be the procedure to pursue same.
Thank You

Reply:
The only requirement under Section 383..31 of the FMCSR is to report a conviction to your employer and licensing state within 30 days of that conviction. What your company has set up is a system similar to SAFESTAT, whereby they are looking at violations written and not final convictions/dispositions.


Of course the company has the right to make its own poilicy, however I would look to any grievance procedure in your policy/employment handbook if negative consequences result from this set up. There is a strong argument that you are innocent until proven or plead guilty to a charge. If there is nothing in the handbook, then your fall back would be possibly the Department of Labor, EEOC or Union if so represented.


James Mennella

Food For Thought

I believe that Banking Institutions are more Dangerous than standing Armies... If the American People ever allow private Banks to control the issue of Currency... The Banks and CORPORATIONS that will grow up around them will deprive the People of their Property until their Children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers Conquered". By Thomas Jefferson-1743-1826.

We the Labors of America, especially as FedEx employees must organize now and not become a debt-slavery for the Federal Reserve Bank and Corporate America... Now is the perfect time to unionize.

Joe Nuño and the FedEx Watchdog

What FedEx And Corp. America Doesn't Want You Know About The Employee Free Choice Act

The Employee Free Choice Act is not what the company makes it out to be.

There is still a secret ballot which we can choose to use. But there is also a choice of a majority sign up or card check. This is where the “CHOICE” is. As of now the choice is left up to the company. They choose when the elections are held, which gives them time to start an anti-union campaign to scare employees from doing the right thing. The employees would choose which of these two methods to use without any harassment from the company.

The main reason the company does not want the EFCA to pass is because there will be a time table for the company to get a “CONTRACT” signed. Ten days after we vote to have the Teamsters represent us. The company must start negotiating with its employee’s to get a “CONTRACT” done.

If the company does not negotiate a contract in six months the National Relation Labor Board will get an arbitrator to force the company to give the employee’s a fair “CONTRACT”.

This is a time table the company has to abide to.

Example, FedEx Ground in Connecticut voted to have representation by the Teamsters two years ago and FedEx still hasn’t given them a “CONTRACT” why? Because FedEx is in the courts just dragging things out! This would not happen when the EFCA pass’. This is what corporate American is afraid of.

The Wagner Act of 1935, which FDR signed during the Great Depression helped labor in the United States. Making a strong Middle Class and making America the most Productive country in the world.

My fellow Laborers, it is time again to make America strong. To make it a Productive Rich country again! Not rich by banks or waiting for dividends to come in the mail, But with hard work. LABOR! Is what made America strong before!

Please contact your states Representatives to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

Do it for America. Do it for our Families.

Remember, without “Labor” there would be No Corporations!

Rudy,Joe and The FedEx Watch Dogs

Ask Corporate ...

Ask corporate if they sleep well, when I have to tell my family I am not a full time employee at FedEx frt.
Ask corporate if they sleep well, when I tell my children not to get sick or accidently break their bones when playing or develop a chronic illness because I don't have medical benefits.
Ask corporate if they sleep well, when I have to tell my family that we are losing our home, because I can't paid my mortgage any more. Especially on 3 to 4 hrs per day or on call.
Ask corporate if they sleep well, when I tell my children that I can't take them out to eat anymore or to rationalize on food, while our salaried corporate managers eat well.
Ask corporate if they sleep well, when employees pitch in what little they have to pay a medical bill for another dockworker that injured himself outside of work because he has no medical insurance.
Ask corporate if they sleep well when they spend millions of dollars on anti-union propaganda against Employees Free Choice Acts, while we are losing our jobs, homes and fringe benefits.
By the way there will be a meeting in Little Rock Arkansas at the chamber of commerce march 19 and thru out the days to come. These meetings are for the Secret Ballots Act, which is against the Employee Free Choice Act.
So goodnight FedEx corporate CEO’s,sleep well...

THE FEDEX WATCHDOG.

Snap Shot SBO

Food For Thought ...

Protect your union rights now before it's too late. Beware of Richard Berman and corporate America. Major Corporation’s like Wal-mart, FedEx corp. and other top major companies, who are trying to change the U.S. Constitution. Let us not forget that the U.S Constitution was written by the People for the People, not by the Corporations for the Corporations. If we let Corporations take over America then we are back to square one, yes back to Kings and Queens, and let's not forget the Boston tea party, (the original one, not the 2009 tea party). Protect Middle America, become a member of a union organization. Let's rebuilt America by buying American made products and support our economy. We the employees of FedEx Corporation are the union and proud future Teamsters.

Joe Nuno and Rudy Hernandez

Another Blow Hits Closer to Home

This is an article from PR Watch.org

It's Rick Berman's(President of unionfacts.com.The website that is mentioned in FedEx's own anti-union website) son, commenting on his fathers business.This is the person (Rick Berman), FedEx wants you to believe in ???

Rick Berman's son, David Berman, is a 42-year-old singer-songwriter who, since 1989, has been the front singer for a popular New York City indie rock band called the "Silver Jews." Over the years, the Jews have developed a loyal following, but on January 22, 2009 David Berman stunned his fans by posting a note to an online message board announcing that after all these years he was leaving the Silver Jews. The reason? His father, Rick Berman.

In scathing language, David disclosed to his fans who his father is, and how leaving the band related to his father's work. David wrote,

Now that the Joos are over I can tell you my gravest secret. Worse than suicide, worse than crack addiction:

My father.

You might be surprised to know he is famous, for terrible reasons. My father is a despicable man. My father is a sort of human molestor.

An exploiter. A scoundrel. A world historical mother******* son of a bitch. (sorry grandma).

You can read about him here:

www.bermanexposed.org

... A couple of years ago I demanded he stop his work. Close down his company or I would sever our relationship.

He refused. He has just gotten worse. More evil. More powerful. We've been "estranged" for over three years.

Even as a child I disliked him. We were opposites. I wanted to read. He wanted to play games.

He is a union buster.

When I got out of college I joined the Teamsters (the guards were union organized at the Whitney).

I went off to hide in art and academia.



The Silver Jews perform "I'm Getting Back Into Getting Back Into You."I fled through this art portal for twenty years. In the meantime my Dad started a very very bad company called Berman and Company.

He props up fast food/soda/factory farming/childhood obesity and diabetes/drunk driving/secondhand smoke.

He attacks animal lovers, ecologists, civil action attorneys, scientists, dieticians, doctors, teachers.

His clients include everyone from the makers of Agent Orange to the Tanning Salon Owners of America.

He helped ensure the minimum wage did not move a penny from 1997-2007!

The worst part for me as a writer is what he does with the English language.

Though vicious he is a doltish thinker, and his spurious editorials rely on doublethink and always with the Lashon Hara.

As I studied Judaism over the years, the shame and the shanda, grew almost too much. My heart was constantly on fire for justice. I could find no relief.

This winter I decided that the SJs [Silver Jews] were too small of a force to ever come close to undoing a millionth of all the harm he has caused. To you and everyone you know.

Literally, if you eat food or have a job, he is reaching you.

I've always hid this terrible shame from you, the fan. The SJs have always stood autonomous and clear.

Hopefully it won't contaminate your feelings about the work ... In a way I am the son of a demon come to make good the damage.

Previously I thought, through songs and poems and drawings I could find and build a refuge away from his world.

But there is the matter of Justice.

And I'll tell you it's not just a metaphor. The desire for it actually burns.

It hurts.

There needs to be something more. I'll see what that might be.

DCB

Ouch.

David's powerful note provides insight into the tortured feelings David has endured as the son of the Lobbyist from Hell. We well agree that Rick Berman is guilty of shamefully obstructing public health and working to crush those who care about public welfare, clean air, the environment, animal rights and other causes. For any normal father, this public note would be excruciatingly painful. For all we know, it might be for Rick Berman, too. But will the pain of this note be enough to change him?

We hope David's public expression of his feelings about his father's work will make Rick Berman think about what he is doing to society, if not his family. If it isn't, well then David, we are on your side and are willing to help you in any way we can.

Workers, Clergy, Community Leaders Tell FedEx CEO to Protect Middle Class Jobs --Hundreds Chant, Hold Signs In Support Of FedEx Workers Seeking to Joi

By: PR Newswire | 11 Feb 2009 | 05:26 from CNBC website:

LOS ANGELES, Feb 11, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Workers, clergy and community leaders in Los Angeles told FedEx CEO Fred Smith that dwindling benefits, higher out-of-pocket medical costs, the loss of pensions and 401(k) compensation has put FedEx workers on the verge of slipping from the middle class.

Clergy and community members were joined by workers at Town Hall Los Angeles on Feb. 10, where Smith was the guest speaker. Smith spoke about the view from "Commerce Street." The workers, clergy and community members spoke of the view from "Main Street." The view is not pretty, with many of the workers struggling to make ends meet.

FedEx enjoys revenues surpassing $36 billion annually with operating profits estimated to be $2.9 billion. In contrast to FedEx's good public reputation, the corporation has a history of manipulating regulations, exploiting weak labor laws and undermining workers' freedom of association.

In 1996, Smith used his company's influence with the U.S. Senate to exempt Federal Express from the labor laws that govern "like companies". By effectively obtaining a "special deal" for Federal Express from lawmakers, the workforces' fundamental right to association was summarily limited. The "special legislation" puts the workers at FedEx under the jurisdiction of the Railway Labor Act. Under this law, workers are allowed to organize only in national units, instead of locally. This has made the formation of a union at FedEx more difficult. The workers have been trying to form a union with the Teamsters.

During the Town Hall's question and answer period, Rev. Margaret McCauley of Holy Nativity Episcopal Church told Smith she was concerned about the well being of workers whose wages and benefits were being cut.

"My question is, if you are truly committed to building the middle class in Los Angeles, then why have you taken away pensions and diminished benefits from FedEx employees, which threaten to remove them from the middle class?" McCauley asked.

Alicia Wilson, a student and an intern at CLUE LA (Clergy & Laity for Economic Justice Los Angeles), reminded Smith of the Blue Ribbon Commission hearing held here in December that focused on keeping FedEx workers in the middle class. The hearing was co-sponsored by CLUE LA, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.

"The hearing's commissioners are producing a final report which will contain a number of recommendations they believe will aid your workforce in maintaining a middle class life," Wilson told Smith. "Would you be willing to engage in meaningful dialogue with them regarding the recommendations?" Smith told Wilson "I can't promise you that I personally will engage on it, but if you want to e-mail me something and have us look at it, we'll certainly consider it." While Smith spoke inside, chants from outside the venue could be heard from outside. Workers, clergy and community leaders held signs and chanted "Save the middle class," "Give us back our pension," "Fred must go," and "Give back what you took." "I have witnessed a pattern of steadily declining benefits at FedEx. With the stroke of a pen, and with little warning and no input or discussion from employees, FedEx changed our retirement plan," said Dan Forrand, a Senior Aircraft Maintenance Technician in Los Angeles.

Smith's view from Commerce Street has meant the company has systematically and illegally misclassified workers in California and across the nation as owner-operators. That has meant that FedEx has avoided paying millions of dollars in taxes.