The Real Maguire - Who Actually Invented Labor Day?

While most sources, even the Department of Labor, credit Peter McGuire with the origination of Labor Day, recent evidence suggests that the true father of Labor Day may in fact be another famous union leader of the 19th Century, Matthew Maguire.

According to legend, Peter McGuire stood before the New York Central Labor Union on May 12, 1882, to suggest the idea of setting aside one day a year to honor labor. McGuire believed that Labor Day should "be celebrated by a street parade which would publicly show the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations."

Peter McGuire was a young, though well-respected, union leader. A child of immigrants, he quit school at an early age to go to work. In 1881, he founded the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, which would become the largest trade union of the time. Later, McGuire would join with his friend, Samuel Gompers, to found the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Through the AFL and the Carpenters, McGuire led the great strikes of 1886 and 1890, which would eventually result in the adoption of the eight-hour workday on the nation's agenda.

Recently, however, evidence uncovered at the New Jersey Historical Society in Newark reveals that another respected union figure of the day, Matthew Maguire, may quite possibly be the man behind the creation of Labor Day.

In the 1870s, Matthew Maguire led several strikes, most of which were intended to force the plight of manufacturing workers and their long hours into the public consciousness. By 1882, Maguire had become the secretary of and a leading figure in the Central Labor Union of New York.

According to the New Jersey Historical Society, after President Cleveland signed into law the creation of a national Labor Day, The Paterson (N.J.) Morning Call published an opinion piece entitled, "Honor to Whom Honor is Due," which stated that "the souvenir pen should go to Alderman Matthew Maguire of this city, who is the undisputed author of Labor Day as a holiday." This editorial also referred to Maguire as the "Father of the Labor Day holiday."

So why has Matthew Maguire been overlooked as the "Father of Labor Day"?

According to The First Labor Day Parade, by Ted Watts, Maguire held some political beliefs that were considered fairly radical for the day and also for Samuel Gompers and his American Federation of Labor. Allegedly, Gompers did not want Labor Day to become associated with the sort of "radical" politics of Matthew Maguire, so in a 1897 interview, Gompers' close friend Peter J. McGuire was assigned the credit for the origination of Labor Day.

SOURCE

FedEx suffers setback in lawsuit over classification of ground-division drivers in California

Published August 27, 2014

Associated Press

DALLAS –  A federal court has ruled that FedEx Corp. improperly classified about 2,300 drivers in California as independent contractors instead of employees.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday covered drivers who worked for FedEx between 2000 and 2007. Similar lawsuits were filed in about 40 states before 2009.

A lawyer for the drivers estimated that they could receive at least $250 million in back pay and damages if the ruling stands up.

The judges said that under California law, the drivers were employees because FedEx controlled how they did their work. They had to wear company uniforms, drive approved trucks, and follow other company procedures.

FedEx said it will appeal to the full appeals court in San Francisco. FedEx general counsel Cary Blancett said that other courts had upheld contract language with "thousands" of independent contractors.

The Memphis, Tennessee-based company said that since 2011, it has only contracted with incorporated businesses that treat drivers as their employees. It also said it will shift to new service agreements in California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada.

In their lawsuit, the drivers sought back pay for overtime, expenses, punitive damages and attorney costs. That would total more than $75,000 for each of the drivers in the original lawsuit, according to filings.

Anti Union TV Now Playing at Your Local Organizing Terminal

Now This is a JOM we like!

FedEx Drops Scorecard

FedEx's Smith gets 12 percent Increase in compensation by: Wayne Risher

FedEx Corp. founder and president Frederick W. Smith’s total compensation hit $14.1 million in the year ending May 31, up about 12 percent from the previous year.
FedEx’s proxy statement, filed Monday, showed Smith’s pay package at the highest level since before the Great Recession. He received $17 million in total compensation in fiscal 2007.
Smith’s base salary for the recent year held steady at $1,266,960, but increases in long-term incentive pay helped lift his total from $12.6 million a year earlier.
The compensation disclosures coincided with FedEx’s release of an annual report highlighting a 50 percent increase in share prices in the fiscal year. That’s compared to a 19 percent gain in the S&P 500 and 31 percent gain in the Dow Jones Transportation Average, FedEx said.
Other highlights included an increase in the operating margin from 5.8 percent to 7.6 percent, and a 37 percent increase in earnings per share, to $6.75. The numbers show progress in a multiyear push to boost earnings and profits announced in October 2012.
But the report cautions that the global economy and consumer demand, particularly for the fastest services, will determine whether FedEx Express hits a target of $1.6 billion a year in increased profit by May 31, 2016.
“In FY14 we acted decisively to boost shareowner value, and we are proud of our accomplishments during the year,” Smith said in a letter accompanying the annual report, which can be viewed at news.van.fedex.com.
Referring to a stock buyback program and aggressive cost management, Smith added, “These initiatives are designed to ensure the near- and long-term success of FedEx, including superior financial returns for shareowners. As a result, we believe FedEx is well positioned for stronger growth in earnings and cash flow despite a sluggish global economy and dramatic changes in supply chains.”
FedEx, which had $45.6 billion in revenue in fiscal 2014, is Greater Memphis’s largest private employer with about 30,000 workers.
FedEx shares closed Tuesday at $150, down 42 cents a share.
Smith, 70, outpaced other principal officers of the Memphis-based package delivery giant, according to the proxy statement’s summary compensation table.
Executive vice president and chief financial officer Alan B. Graf Jr.’s total compensation declined 10 percent, to $4.8 million.
Robert B. Carter, executive vice president and chief information officer, posted a 3.8 percent increase, to $4.9 million; executive vice president, market development and corporate communications T. Michael Glenn’s compensation increased 3.1 percent, to $5.2 million; and FedEx Express president and CEO David Bronczek was up 1.3 percent, to $6.5 million.
The proxy statement sets the agenda for FedEx’s annual shareholder meeting in Memphis Sept. 29.
FedEx blocked inclusion in the proxy of a shareholder proposal that would have required examination of company ties with the Washington Redskins and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland. The team owner is under fire from critics of the team name. FedEx has naming rights for the stadium, and Smith is a 10 percent owner of the team.
A handful of shareholder proposals opposed by FedEx’s board will be voted on at the annual meeting. These include a proposal to allow shareholders to bypass a board committee in nominating board members and a proposal to require the company to disclose all political spending.
Missing from the proxy is a perennial shareholder proposal from the Teamsters calling for an independent board chairman. Smith is also the company’s chairman and chief executive officer.Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

This is very good advice

Cinnaminson N.J.

These Brothers are from our Cinnaminson NJ Terminal.

FedEx Freight Scorecard Update

There's Power in Numbers

2+2=5

Bring the Teamsters to FedEx Freight

Conway's racist anti union tactics

Race Game Posted:

14 Aug 2014 07:32 AM PDT

Laredo, TX employees recently signed cards to petition the NLRB for union representation. The LSX terminal in San Antonio held a meeting with their employees to tell them that the employees at Laredo who signed cards didn't know what they were signing because they don't know how to speak, write, or read english. They're trying to play the race card to persuade their own employees not to do the same thing. Conway is scum and we must remember that when they spew their lies. This is not an issue to do with race, this is an economic issue. This is about us fighting back against Conway's corporate greed. Let's keep this in mind when we vote at Laredo on September 12th.

UPS, FedEx owned by most of the same monopoly banks Highlights the need for industry-wide organizing, unionizing FedEx workers By Dave Schneider and Dustin Ponder | April 19, 2014 Read more articles in Labor Jacksonville, FL

– Despite ‘competing’ as the world's two largest parcel delivery and shipping companies, UPS and FedEx are owned by many of the same banks. According to NASDAQ's ownership summary of both companies, 12 of the top 20 owners of UPS and FedEx are the same banks, investment groups and financial institutions.

Both multi-billion dollar corporations are under 'institutional ownership', which means that a majority of their shares are owned by financial institutions, banks and other large monopoly corporations. According to NASDAQ's ownership summary of UPS on April 11, nearly 71% of UPS shares are owned by institutions. FedEx, a smaller company than UPS, actually had greater institutional ownership, with 83.94% of the company's shares owned by institutions, according to NASDAQ.

However, most of the largest institutional owners of both UPS and FedEx have substantial interests in both companies. For instance, Vanguard Group Inc., a Pennsylvania-based investment bank that manages nearly $2 trillion in assets, is the single-largest owner of UPS and the third largest owner of FedEx. Vanguard Group is a massive financial institution that boasts the largest ownership in many other large, well-known corporations including Apple, Exxon Mobil and Microsoft.

Primecap Management Company, based in Pasadena, California, is the largest owner of FedEx, holding nearly 19 million shares of the shipping company, according to NASDAQ. However, Primecap is also the 16th largest owner of UPS stock, holding more than 6.3 million shares, also according to NASDAQ.

In all, 60% of the top 20 owners of both UPS and FedEx are the same banks, investment groups and financial institutions.

Institutional ownership is incredibly common among the largest 500 publicly traded companies.

Despite this fact, companies like UPS stress to workers the need to “compete” against rival workers in their industry, like those at FedEx. UPS's collective bargaining agreement includes an entire article on competition that states: “The Union recognizes that the Employer is in direct competition with…other firms engaging in the distribution of express letter, parcel express, parcel delivery, and freight, both air and surface.”

The company leverages this poison pill of competition to justify subcontracting union work and undermining union standards. It creates an adversarial relationship between workers of UPS and FedEx, when in reality the owners at the top are united in extracting the most profit possible from workers at both companies. When the owners of UPS and FedEx are one in the same, ‘competition’ means which management team can exploit their workers the most and extract the most profit for the banks that own the whole industry.

A prominent argument used by UPS claims that workers must accept concessionary contracts to remain ‘competitive.’ They argue that employing tried-and-true militant tactics, like striking as the Teamsters did successfully in 1997, will result in FedEx stealing UPS’s customers. Historically, the union movement addressed this by organizing entire industries, instead of single worksites or employers. This meant one industry, one union, and at times -one contract. At its best, this method of organizing and bargaining takes wages out of competition and sets industry-wide standards to prevent subcontracting and a race to the bottom through ‘competition.’ Tactically, if the 1% owners of both brands are united, then to combat them and win, workers across the entire industry must also unite.

The attempts of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to organize FedEx have been foiled by U.S. labor law, which misclassifies workers and stifles their ability to unionize. FedEx Ground drivers are misclassified as independent contractors and are legally barred from union representation, even though in practice, they are effectively workers directly employed by the company. FedEx Express drivers are also misclassified under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), as opposed to the National Labor Relations Act. The company claims their employees are ‘airline’ workers, and thus would need to unionize nationally all at once. The RLA also places many more restrictions on workers’ rights, including the ability to strike. It also forces the workers into binding arbitration, which often serve the interest of the boss instead of the workers.

The banks and financial institutions that own both UPS and FedEx are united in their push for lower wages, part-time poverty jobs, fewer benefits and weaker contracts. To effectively fight their race to the bottom, union workers at UPS must organize FedEx workers, regardless of the legal fictions created by politicians in Washington.

Dave Schneider and Dustin Ponder are both rank-and-file Teamsters and members of Part-Time Power at UPS, which is a national group for UPS part-timers.

FedEx's Anti-Union Propaganda

This flyer was handed out to our fellow FedEx employees in RCH

EPH Files Petition with NRLB

We are pleased to announce a second terminal has filed petition today!! Congratulations to the EPH terminal located in Croydon PA.

FedEx Freight Petition to the NRLB

Congratulations to our fellow FedEx freight drivers in New Jersey. Stand "United" and "Strong". Like our managers here in SoCal said, " FedEx will do everything "Legally" to keep the Union out".

But remember, WE ARE THE UNION!

Thumbs up CIN filed a petition to the NLRB for a Union Vote

News out of Cinnaminson, NJ


CIN has filed a petition to the NLRB after collecting an overwhelming amount of signed cards.

A letter of protection has been issued to Fed Ex Freight concerning the committee members in charge of organizing the center.

More centers to follow suit.