The woefully misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (better known as the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill) isn't the only proposed union boss power grab pending in Congress. Big Labor's high command is always looking for new ways to force more workers into dues-paying ranks -- pushing bills from Card Check Forced Unionism to Police and Fire Monopoly Bargaining.
Now, Teamsters union bosses and UPS executives are lobbying Congress to grease the rails for unionization at FedEx, UPS' chief rival (for background, see this article in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal). Collusion between Teamsters union brass and UPS is nothing new -- in fact, independent-minded UPS employees have frequently turned to staff attorneys with the National Right to Work Foundation reporting violations of their rights by both union bosses and the company, including coervice card check campaigns approved by UPS executives.
Many UPS employees who have exercised to refrain from formal union membership have nonetheless been forced to contribute to a "Strike and Defense Fund," which bars benefits to nonmembers. Of course, it was Teamsters union bosses who had no choice but to settle a lawsuit filed by UPS driver Rod Carter, a man union militants severely beat and stabbed for choosing to work during a strike to support his family (union officials also used union funds to bail the assailants out of jail).
With stories like these, it's little wonder Americans oppose giving union bosses even more government-granted special privileges.
Comments
UPS and the Teamsters
UPS couriers make a very fine living despite a high school education.
UPS couriers make top pay withen two years compared to a Fedex Express Courier having to wait close to twelve years and countless 'reviews' and manipulating.
A UPS courier should have no qualms contributing to a 'strike fund'. If a UPS courier cannot bank at least two months pay to cover expensed during a strike , he or she does not deserve to work for that company.
Did he or she forget to
Did he or she forget to ention that it takes you about 5 to 10 years to actually become a driver at UPS. At Fed Ex you can start your career as a driver.
UPS-Teamsters Conspiracy?
Collusion? Conspiracy? What's with the UPS bashing?
None of the articles in your document support the theory that UPS is supporting card check. Where do you see UPS pushing and supporting the card check bill? And if you think UPS wouldn't rather be non-union...
UPS executives and the Teamsters union are working together to "remove truck drivers, couriers and other [non airline] employees at FedEx's Express unit from the jurisdiction of the federal Railway Labor Act" The RLA was implemented "to limit commerce-crippling strikes at railroad companies" and has been extended to cover the Airlines as well. (Quoted from the Wednesday's Wall Street Journal cited above.)
FedEx and UPS have the same business model to several decimal places. Either FedEx should actually be covered by the National Labor Relations Act or UPS should be covered by the RLA.
In fact, I believe UPS executives would be just as happy if UPS was granted the protection of the RLA as opposed to taking those protections away from FedEx.
Pick-up a package, move it by truck to the airport, or destination if it can be delivered on time without moving by air. At the destination, put the package back into a truck and send it out for delivery.
Which company did I just describe?
If making the playing field level makes it easier for FedEx to be unionized, so be it. UPS has worked with the Teamsters for many years and still makes a profit.
If you want to get on your high-horse about something, look at FedEx Ground's treatment of its "contractor" drivers.
treatment of Fedex Ground contractors
One thing always left out of any story about "how bad" contractors have it with Ground is how much more they make with the association of the Fedex name. How many times bigger is Ground than RPS ever was? As a frequent eBay user I only got 1 delivery from RPS, many more now from Ground. How many times a day would you even see a RPS truck? How many contractors were able to buy multiple routes? To have to follow a few rules for all the extra gained is a pretty good deal.
FedexExpress
There is a very good chance that the employees at Fedex Express will not sign off on going union. This is something that advocates and pundits alike seem to be forgetting. I don't know which way the decision will go but I do know this...I don't want others deciding for me.
Over the past 2 years I have lost the bulk of my pension ( the money I relied on for retirement) and have been lied to by Fedex about an increased 401K match to make up for it. Meanwhile, the amount of money Fedex spends on golf, race cars and football is on the rise.
I know one thing. The union would get me back my pension and hold Fedex to at least some of the many promises they have made to the people who make them their money.
You are right the UNION will
You are right the UNION will get your pension. You did not explain how you lost your pension which is doubtful as FedEx fully funds a pension and you have 2 other tax sheltered funds that you can participate in yourself.
good luck with that
I believe you are confusing RETIREMENT (which you could manage) and PENSION (company controlled).
You could have put your funds in a more conservative fund and kept from losing value in your account. I'm "just" a truck driver and managed to have a RETIREMENT plan that increased over the past 2 years. Personally I never heard of any claim to increasing company match to make up for losses. To go a year without a company match , something many companies don't EVER have, is a pretty good trade off for no one being laid off in the operations side of Express. Retirement is yours to manage and the market is responsible for decling values not the Company.
As to PENSION, those accounts only vary in the amount of money you earn , higher earnings equal higher Company contributions to your PENSION.
If you think the grass is greener on the Brown side of the fence, I think you should look into the funding of a PENSION. 2 of 3 Teamsters PENSIONS were underfunded, that means if nothing changed, eventually there would not be enough funds to pay retirees what they were promised, much as with Social Security.
I think your the one
I think your the one confused son... FedEx revised its pension plan a couple years back making it harder to earn as much of a pension in a shorter amount of time than with the old plan... At the same time they made this change, they sold us employees the idea that the 401k match would be increased and would make up for the fact that many of us were FORCED into the new less appealing pension plan... So, these two benefits ARE completely related to each other... Any knucklehead knows the difference between 401k and a pension, but in this case the two were tied together...
The rule of thumb:It only
The rule of thumb:It only takes one to know one, does not apply here! UPS and their company union (aka Teamsters) have come to know they are conjoined at the hip when it comes to their mutual survival outside their respective boardrooms. Neither party is deserving of our nations collective respect anymore than the Godfather is deserving of our nations medal of honor! In fact, they both remind me of something our nation would be better off, without.