About
The Teamsters have fought for the interests of working men and women for more than 100 years. Today we represent 1.4 million hard-working women and men throughout the United States and Canada.
Our goal is to secure workers' rights, protect their health and safety, and win fair pay for their hard work. The Teamsters stand with all FedEx workers who demand dignity, respect and good pay for a job well done.
From International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa:
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Statistical evidence paints a picture of minority workers stuck in part-time, low-paying positions, while arbitrary evaluations and invalid skill tests keep them there. The company may try to blame discriminatory practices on a few bad-apple managers, but the trail leads much farther up the chain of command.
FedEx is also a major proponent of an alarming trend in today's job market: dishonestly classifying workers as "independent contractors." This allows employers to maintain absolute control over operations and shift costs and risks onto workers, while reaping all the benefits of their labor. The entrepreneurial spirit may sound appealing, but the benefits for corporations and resulting burdens for workers are undeniable.
FedEx Ground has 14,000 independent contractors that make its domestic, non-express package deliveries. These drivers receive no health care or retirement benefits. The drivers pay taxes for workers' compensation, unemployment insurance and Social Security, and they purchase fuel and maintain their own trucks, all out of their own pockets. Overtime pay and vacation days do not exist for these "independent contractors." Such is the price of FedEx's so-called entrepreneurial freedom.
As unionized drivers know, allowing FedEx to maintain its status quo is a threat to worker justice throughout the shipping industry. Such an unfair advantage puts downward pressure on wages, benefits and other industry standards. And there's a clear trail of where the money is going.
FedEx claims a typical driver makes $50,000 to $55,000 a year. But as one ground driver pointed out, the fuel, maintenance and loans on his truck cut his salary to $20,000. When FedEx takes a free ride on the backs of its employees, it's no wonder it can afford to undercut union competitors like UPS. Teamster members at UPS have won medical care, pensions, and 401(k)s. All driving costs are covered by the company. And by the way, UPS remains so successful because it has a unionized workforce.
As exploited workers are wont to do, FedEx's ground drivers are fighting back. Drivers have sued the company to challenge their independent contractor status in more than 20 states. FedEx is already under court order to reclassify drivers in California, and has suffered similar defeats elsewhere.
Manipulating job classifications to pay employees less than their due is one of the oldest tricks in the book. But beyond immediate dollars and cents benefits, there is a larger corporate incentive--being an independent contractor means you cannot legally organize into a union.
As unionized drivers know, allowing FedEx to maintain its status quo is a threat to worker justice throughout the shipping industry. Such an unfair advantage puts downward pressure on wages, benefits and other industry standards. And there's a clear trail of where the money is going.
After President Bush's 2002 tax cuts, FedEx founder and CEO Fred Smith began paying annual dividends to himself and other stockholders for the first time in the company's history. Forget re-investing the money, or, God forbid, pay workers better wages and benefits. Since 2002, Smith himself has collected nearly $14.5 million in dividend bonuses.
FedExWatch.com is here to track the anti-worker tactics and bad business practices of FedEx. Corporations have a choice between the high road and the low road when it comes to business practices, and we as consumers have the power to influence that choice. Say "no" to FedEx.
In Solidarity,
James P. Hoffa