STRIKE! |
At the heart of the battle between the UPS suits and the rank and file are issues that many FedExers across the country can strongly empathize with. UPS management wants to push its workers closer to the unenviable working situation all FedExers are already in. They want to take total control of the pension fund, subcontract long-haul routes out to non-union truckers and string along part-time employees as long as they want to rather than giving them the opportunity to attain some measure of dignity and financial security after a reasonable apprenticeship period as part-timers. In short, they want to "FedEx" their workers! Can anyone think of another word that begins with an "F" which could be substituted for "FedEx" in the previous sentence...
As I listened to talk radio this afternoon, I heard all sorts of comments about the strike from callers which I found to be utterly incredible in their level of ignorance! One breathless woman from Ohio called in stating that her husband was a 22 year employee of UPS who wanted to go to work! She then said that she lived in a beautiful home, that her husband was very well-paid and that they had never had to be fearful about their futures until those nasty Teamsters called this strike! What an airhead! How can anyone be so totally oblivious to reality to not see that the very reason why she lived in a beautiful home and was married to a man who was "well-paid" was because the UNION, specifically, the TEAMSTERS, had negotiated over decades to ensure that UPS workers could afford such "beautiful" homes and would continue to be "well-paid!"
Another dullard called in and identified himself as an 11 year UPS employee who also wanted to go to work. His particular slant on the strike was that it was disloyal to the "company" and a betrayal of the times that management had "gone out of its way" to help him out in the past! He actually went on to spew forth a statement that was just as ignorant of reality as the Ohio housewife when he said that the union does nothing for him but take his dues money!!! When I heard him utter this nonsense on national radio, I wished fervently that I could reach through the radio and choke this moron until his eyes popped out of his head! I would have loved to challenge him to swap wages, benefits and working conditions with me if he was so stupid as to really believe that his union does nothing but take his money! I would have loved to burst his eardrums as I screamed at the top of my lungs that we at FedEx don't have to pay any union dues but that more and more of us are risking our very jobs daily fighting for the day when we might be lucky enough to pay them!!!! It seems almost miraculous to me that people as oblivious to the obvious as those two callers were have enough gray matter between their ears to be able to talk, let alone dial into a radio talk show!
Several months ago, Fred sent a 7 page memo to his managers wherein he claimed that the Teamsters were in bed with UPS management in efforts to unionize FedEx workers. At that time I wrote an article for this web site stating that not only had I never seen a shred of evidence that backed up Fred's fantasy, but that simple logic would clearly point out that FedEx workers remaining non-union would indeed serve the best interests of UPS management. In view of the concessions UPS management is now demanding from the Teamsters, it becomes intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer that I was right on the money in my assertions back then! UPS managers are clearly using the exploitative FedEx template as a guide in their demands for changes in the relationship their workers have with them!
The thing I found most shocking about the strike is that the government did not step in to stop it! I was certain that somehow both sides would be forced into some sort of mandatory government mediation rather than the seemingly voluntary mediation that the government has provided. You might recall that a short time ago, I cited the assurance a very highly respected member of UPS management had given me back in the '70s that the government would never allow UPS to strike because of its tremendous impact on the economy. Apparently UPS management still felt that would be the case because I also heard reported on the news today that UPS management wants the President to intercede. This makes me think that perhaps UPS management might have been caught off-guard and was indeed relying on the government's intercession. That might bode well for the rank and file. It may be that UPS management thought they had an ace up their sleeve in the form of government intercession and now that their hand has been called by the Teamsters, they find themselves with a weaker hand to play than they had counted upon!
The lack of forced government intercession should have FedExers everywhere dancing in the streets! Think of what this means boys and girls! If UPS, a shipping juggernaut four times the size of FedEx, can go on strike without government interference, what does that say about the justification of the RLA being the controlling legislation over FedEx employees?! What better way to prove, once and for all, that FedEx workers were unjustifiably politically hijacked into the constraining vortex of the RLA!
My manager gave out his usual daily memo this morning where he generally outlines the current status of incoming trucks and flights. He also uses this daily memo to pass on tidbits of recent company news. Today, his memo admonished us to offer nothing more than "no comment" if confronted by anyone from the media soliciting our opinions about the strike. I don't know about you, but if I'm stopped by the media, I'll follow my manager's orders by stating the following:
Surveys have indicated that something like 95% of the population in America believes in God in one form or another. If that is true, then I would strongly suggest that tonight, before you get into bed and ask for the embrace of Morpheus, you get down on your knees and pray to the deity of your choice that the men and women of the rank and file at UPS hang tough and prevail in their cause! For far more than the fate of those who wear brown uniforms lies at stake in their struggle....