The facts and figures on this page were unashamedly ripped off from the pages of the Chicago Metro Edition of "Expressed." Expressed is published by Phil Beckman, one of my esteemed peers at the PWK station in Elk Grove Village, IL, whenever he feels like it.
NOTE: Keep in mind that this issue of "Expressed" was published before Fred announced the April 1997 raise
PAYCHECKS:
Just how much do Teamsters make?
Airborne delivery drivers:
$19.13/hr, $19.64 in April
Airborne service agents:
$17.57/hr, $18.08 in April
UPS delivery drivers:
$19.86/hr plus incentive program payouts.
UPS tractor-tlr driver:
$20.86/hr top scale.
The Teamsters have begun negotiations for the new UPS contract which begins in August 1997. At FedEx, you're wondering if you'll get an increase.
At UPS, they're wondering how big the increase will be?
------------------------------------------------------------- "Hey Boss, where should I put my laundry basket?"
According to the contract negotiated by the Teamsters for Airborne Express employees, not only is Airborne required to supply uniforms to its drivers, the
contract also requires Airborne to provide free laundry service for those uniforms.
-----------------------------------------------------------
FRIGHTFUL FACTS:
Amaze your friends in management with this little hum-dinger. Elk Grove, home of the FedEx PWK station, lies in school district #214, the second
largest school district in the state of Illinois.
Answer the following question correctly:
A top range courier has a monthly base pay equal to what percentage of the average monthly salary of a District #214 teacher?
a. 96.3%
b. 91.2%
c. 84.5%
d. 44.8%
ANSWER: Amazing as it may seem to your sleepy management friend, the courier makes only 44.8% of the average monthly teacher's salary in District
#214. And while District #214 plans future increases, FedEx plans no future increases for its couriers. So this percentage will go even lower each year,
every year (until FedEx gets a union).
Figures for District 214 are taken from the State of Illinois annual Schools Report Card. OK, OK, we admit there's a small trick here. Teachers get paid
for a ten month year, so that distorts it a tad. If we compare annual courier base with annual teacher salary, the courier is at 53.8%. Wow.
FedEx makes hay while harvesting cash from employees' wallets.
A local Ops manager was trying to impress her workgroup recently by asserting that "FedEx spends 49 cents of every dollar on pay and benefits for its employees."
The proper response to this statement is: "is that all?" UPS spends over 60% of its budget on its employees, and a figure of 49% is actually low for a labor-intensive
service industry.
Unfortunately, the 49% figure isn't even accurate. The percentage of the FedEx budget going to pay and benefits has dropped over the years from around 68% in
1980 to less than 45% in 1996. This is no accident. FedEx has become one of America's leading stagnant wage corporations, employing the slow-but-
steady effects of inflation to drop real buying-power wages step by suffocating step. With the IPP maneuver, watch for that wages-and-benefits slice of the pie to
shrink below 43% in next year's annual report.
What makes all this especially disturbing is that FedEx employees have continued to make impressive gains in both productivity and new revenue,
yet management has habitually failed to find a way to apss on any significan portion of those gains to the employees. While IPP may be providing the
spark for the new interest in unions, this underlying, long-term corporate failure to adjust wages is the fuel for the movement.
The business world accepts the truth that you do not really care about an issue unless you set clear and measurable step-by-step targets to get you to
your objective. While continuously yapping about its "People Policy." FedEx manages to never set wage targets, preferring to "wait and see
what's left over after taking care of the important stuff." With this "management by non-objective," there's never anything left over. As the old
adage goes: "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time."
FedEx Management Gets an Education
Couriers Invited to Metro District Office
About 40 couriers from the Chicago Metro District were invited to the district offices on Friday afternoon, October 18, to discuss the concerns of their
peers at their respective stations. The meeting was called by acting district manager Ron Kress, and lasted all afternoon.
The session consisted mostly of couriers expressing their frustrations about various issues, particularly the FedEx committment to a wage stagnation
policy. Staff members had a hard time believing the simple realities about pay scales in the small-package industry, going so far as to deny that
Airborne's current Local 705 contract calls for an hourly rate of $19.13 even though it's in plain black-and-white on page 10 of the Airborne Freight
Corporation Cartage Agreement of Teamsters Local 705. April 1994 to March 1998.
When couriers pointed out that FedEx is dropping further and further behind the other carriers in our industry, one member of the management team tried
to deflect criticism by saying that in reviewing our wages we are compared to the trucking industry, since that is really closer to what we do. This caused a
lot of surprise because FedEx just spent a great deal of effort persuading the Senate and the courts that we should be under the Railway Act because we
are not a trucking company. Maybe the UAW should subpoena this guy for their lawsuit.
What's particularly disturbing is the fact that management at all levels seems out of touch with the courier work force and entirely unaware of very basic
issues.
A FedEx top-of-range courier making $15.51 per hour draws $620.40 for a week's vacation pay. His counterpart in gray from Airborne goes on
vacation and draws $956.50 for the same week, and After April, will take in $984!
The Teamster contract calls for Airborne to provide 50 hours of straight-time pay for each vacation week (50 hours times $19.13 = $956.50).
In the recent Senate debate over the FedEx "express" rider to the FAA Authorization Bill, Senator Ernest Hollings of South Carolina demonstrated
what is wrong with far too many of those in power.
Hollings was wined and dined and flown around the country by FedEx and its highly paid lobbyists. The silver-haired Senator rose to address the Senate
chamber abd began to make a complete nincompoop of himslef by spouting totally ignorant nonsense about FedEx and its employees.
Hollings, speaking before a nationwide C-SPAN audience, said that FedEx employees have received 6.5% raises every year for the past 7 years!
So far, FedEx hasn't corrected the record, perhaps because the record over the past 7 years is so embarrassing.
On the day after Thanksgiving, full-time FedEx couriers will go in to work and get sent home early, receiving straight-time pay for hours worked. A six hour
work day at most suburban stations will result in gross pay of $93.06 for the day.
What does the Airborne driver get for the same six hour day? - $382.60! Under the Teamster 705 contract, they receive 8 hours straight time plus
double-time for hours worked. No wonder they like Christmas shopping more than we do.
When UPS delivery dirvers under Teamsters 710 work the day after Thanksgiving, they do even better. A six hour day on that Friday results in
gross pay of $476.64! Under the terms of their contract (page 14, section 2, paragraph A), they receive 8 hours for the holiday, plus if they work, they
receive an additional 8 hours at double-time, regardless of actual hours worked. These guys must be truly thankful.
