Brown Bailout update: UPS goes on the attack

Brian Straight July 17th, 2009

The next chapter in the FedEx Express and UPS battle has gone to the U.S. Senate. The Senate is set to take up its version of the FAA Reauthorization bill – a version which does not include the controversial language to reclassify FedEx Express employees under the National Labor Relations Act.

The House version, H.R. 915, does include that language and has created quite a stir from both FedEx Express and UPS. The two package-delivery giants are battling over the insertion of the paragraph. FedEx Express’ argument is that it is an airline and is rightly classified under the Railway Labor Act. UPS and its supporters have countered with the argument that when FedEx Express packages are delivered to the door, that job is being performed by a driver executing the same duties as a UPS driver, who is classified under the National Labor Relations Act.

The real argument is over unions. Under the Railway Labor Act, a union must recruit the entire organization of a company at once as opposed to the Labor Relations Act which allows unionization on a facility-by-facility basis.

FedEx immediately attacked the language in the House version of the bill. A web site, brownbailout.com, was set up to disseminate “the truth” as seen through the eyes of FedEx. FedEx has claimed that the language is nothing more than a government handout to UPS that will make FedEx Express non-competitive due to rising costs.

UPS has responded as well. According to Business First of Louisville, a Washington, D.C., public relations firm representing UPS is helping the company’s employees write letters to Congress. UPS is compensating the employees for time spent writing the letters, which are based on a template supplied by the company, Malcolm Berkley, the public relations manager, told Business First.

So where do we stand today? While the Senate version doesn’t include the language, when the two bills are merged, you can bet this will become a hotly contested issue. Whether it ends up in the final bill sent to the president remains to be seen, but it probably should, in my opinion.

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Related Topics: Trucking Regulation, Trucking

5 Comments to “Brown Bailout update: UPS goes on the attack”

1. Greg Frier Says:
   

   July 17th, 2009 at 9:50 am

   I have worked for BOTH Fedex and UPS. I can tell you from a hourly employee’s perspective exactly what those experiences are like. Fedex paid their people fairly. Everyone at Fedex was paid exactly the same for the same position starting out. It was up to the individual how far their pay advanced or did not advance in their position.

   UPS pays (starting out) according to your negotiating skills and alleged experience. You can tell bare faced lies about your background and experience and UPS will pay you more than the average Joe starting out. They do not screen their new applicants for their skills.

   I am a current UPS employee but clearly my respect goes towards Fedex. They paid me fairly and gave cost of living and merit raises. UPS does not give any cost of living raises to their hourly non union employees. UPS considers $.30 a year a merit “raise” and that is provided you scored very highly by your supervisor. This has nothing to do with the economy this is a standard practice for as long as UPS has been in the brokerage business. The turn over is very high due to this fact and employee moral is very low. Some people with more responsibility make much less than people with equal education and experience. Just depends on who they know and who hired them.

   My current employer (UPS) wanted our entire building to write letters to Congress in regards to the NRA and the Big Brown bail out. All I can tell you is from my perspective as a hourly employee Fedex paid me fairly. They didn’t hire unqualified people and allow them to remain employed because of who they knew at the company. Then pay these unqualified people (starting out) what a current qualified 10 year employee makes per hour with the same level of education. I can honestly say UPS is the most mis-managed place I have ever worked in my entire career.

   The motto “One Vision One Brand” is not how it truly is at UPS. IF you are a Union employee you did not have to sacrifice your yearly turkey. Nor did you have to “give” the company back 4 personal days. Nor did you loose your matching 401K. UPS-SCS management hires unqualified people then allows them to remain on payroll because they are so afraid of lawsuits.

   I encourage Congress/Senate to pass laws that make “cost of living raises” MANDATORY to all large employers. Fedex has my respect because they treated me fairly and paid me fairly. I tested for any position I applied for. UPS is all about politics and who you know not what you know.

2. Rex Patton Says:
   

   July 17th, 2009 at 7:43 pm

   One question is that if Fedex is so great then why are they fighting so hard against this change in classification. It’s nearly like flogging a dead horse but it seems to always come back to that. If it’s so great then the employees wouldn’t vote for a Union. I don’t know where or when you worked at Fedex but I know both types of drivers in my area and the Fedex pay is not even comparable to what the UPS guy makes and the Fedex guy has worked for the company longer.

   This issue is really not about whether Unions are good or bad but about why Fedex would be fighting so hard against their employees even having the right to vote one in or not. That is what they’re doing. Nothing about this issue would force Fedex to unionize, the employees have to vote it in. The truth is that Fedex knows that many of it’s employees will Unionize if their classification is changed. Over 1000 employees in Pennsylvania petitioned for a Union vote in 1995 when Fedex lost their airline classification before they were reclassified as an airline by congress in 1996. This issue is simply about people driving trucks being classified as truckdrivers, it’s as simple as that.

3. Greg Frier Says:
   

   July 20th, 2009 at 4:35 pm

   I see your point - and I agree to some extent on some of them. Bottom line is UPS only pays their Union employees well - not NON Union employees. The “brown” side (small package) has wondeful benefits and pay and the Union drivers are paid very well. UPS employees (non union) were made to attend a mandatory seminar in regards to Fedex and NRA. Then made to complete their letters to congress in front of SR Management. Then were told in a round about way they would remember who didnt complete the letter. I do not respond well to coercion. Fedex NEVER treated me like that. I worked for them for 10 years 1988-1998. I made more in 1998 than I do now in 2009 working for UPS. My biggest regret is ever leaving them in the 1st place. I would of signed the letter to congress if I was treated with a little dignity and respect at UPS. Which goes back to my remark “UPS is the most mis-managed place I have worked in my entire life”. Then our SR manager told an employee that simply expressed his opinion about the entire situation “YOU CAN LEAVE RIGHT NOW THERE IS THE DOOR”. Just because he stated his opinion? You lead by example and any good leader would allow a difference of opinion and not react in such a violent and negative manner. This is my manager’s manager acting in this bizarre manner. Corporate has been notified time and time again and they do nothing about it. Fedex never employed such unqualified people in management or otherwise in my time there.

4. david cheatham Says:
   

   March 28th, 2010 at 12:05 am

   This is the same song and dance as all ways! the facts are this ,one company chose to go union and and run it’s self and it’s people in the ground in the process!! when i say this i’m talking about loaning money to another company that’s going under (Roadway/Yellow merger ) just for the simlpe fact that is was a brother in trucking? This was stupid!!! By doing so it has put them in a position were money is tied up in a loosing company and it has truly put the in a bind! This goes back to poor leadership!Iam not union and i’m glad not to be. I don’t want to pay my hard earned money into a bellyup system such as a union.I see it that UPS finds itself in a tuff market place and they look around and see someone making it work and it’s not anylonger working for them.Well let’s change the rule’s and make it fair!!!REALLY! Look at our GOV looks somewhat the same!! Stop trying to change things for eveyone else because of your sad operation short comings. I do work for Fedex and my wife worked for UPS for 1o years before quitting to be a stay at home mother. UH, Fedex and my hard work made that possible! Fedex ask for a lot from it’s people but, they pay you fairly for your time WORKED key word!!!! In life there are two types of people, those who blame everyone else and those who look in the mirror….. UPS it’s time get out the Windex ,paper towel dust yours off and look in!!!!! You put your own handcuff’s on ,not Federal Express…….

   Just an American!!!!!

5. forrest merrill Says:
   

   September 23rd, 2010 at 8:58 am

   I wish it was as simple as UPS asking their employees to write to congress. As a UPS employee we were asked to attend a mandatory meeting where we were given examples of what to write. We had to write in our own handriting and address the envelopes. Of course if we refused we new it would reflect negatively with management as they led the meeting. We were told to leave the envelopes unsealed for scrutinization before mailing (in case we decided to write what we felt instead of what UPS decided we should feel on the subject). For me that was an embarrasing day to say I worked for UPS. Something clearly wrong with the way that was handled.

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