Hopefully, this isnt a re-post but this was an interesting article I noticed in the IPA industry news emails. FedEx used to be viewed as a good place for employees but that seems to be changing...at least to an outsider...
Blue Ribbon Commission Panel Findings Show That FedEx Has Eroded Its Workers’ Living Standards Substantially (PRNewswire, Mar. 26)
A Blue Ribbon Commission panel has found that FedEx has systematically eroded the living standards of its employees to the point where its workers find themselves on the brink of falling out of the middle class.
Without good middle class jobs, the economy cannot recover, according to the report "Blue Ribbon Commission on Keeping FedEx Jobs in the Middle Class," released on the 26. The commissioners, Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-CA., Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl and United Methodist Church Bishop Mary Ann Swenson heard testimony from economic experts, FedEx workers, clergy and community members at a hearing in Los Angeles in December 2008.
"FedEx Corp. enjoys revenues surpassing $36 billion annually, with operating profits estimated to be $2.9 billion," said Rep. Linda Sanchez. "Yet over the past several years, during times of enormous company profits and unbridled executive compensation, FedEx has threatened the economic stability of its employees, not only with stingy wages, frozen pensions, and inadequate health benefits, but also with aggressive anti-union tactics that intimidate workers and prevent them from organizing to improve their lot."
The Commission issued several key findings, including evidence that FedEx has a history of repeated threats, intimidation, and other apparent violations of federal labor law. Its policies undermine the middle class status of employees.
"FedEx appears to have adopted, as a cost of doing business, a corporate philosophy of disdain for workers' rights and an acceptance of the occasional penalty for violating labor law," said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. "FedEx Ground's business model rests on misclassifying drivers as independent contractors, which places them outside the protection of most labor and employment laws."
This allows FedEx to enjoy the benefit of a workforce that they have no responsibility "to" or "for." Every government jurisdiction suffers from a loss of revenue as a result of these schemes. Instead of being a good corporate citizen, FedEx has shifted its share of the cost of the local services it receives to the average hardworking taxpayer. FedEx also has made a practice of denying its workers the right to form a union, the report said.
Among the BRC panel's recommendations is for Congress to pass the Express Carrier Employee Protection Amendment, part of the recently introduced FAA Reauthorization Bill. The amendment would provide FedEx Express workers the right to form a union on the same basis as workers performing similar work for other package delivery companies.
The panel also recommends that Congress pass the Employee Free Choice Act. The panel also calls on FedEx to adopt a policy of neutrality regarding workers' efforts to form a union, and to stop misclassifying workers as independent contractors.
Blue Ribbon Commission Panel Findings Show that FedEx Has Eroded Its Workers' Living Standards Substantially - FOXBusiness.com