MrFedEx
Engorged Member
I respectfully disagree. How do you subcontract a package to yourself? It absolutely is semantics and your comment that they have "waited for the correct political climate" says it all. Ground is not a third party considering it is one of the FDX opcos. Maybe they're pretending that it is (a third party) but that's simply not the case. This all hinges on FDX building a political support mechanism for the illegal actions they are taking.
The real issue remains the RLA, and I'm still failing to understand how FDX gets to keep Express under the RLA when the way it moves packages has fundamentally changed. Express is no longer an airline in terms of the RLA definition of such. Yes, there is an airline component of Express, but you cannot call the new hybrid Ground/Express model an airline with a straight face, which is exactly what they're trying to do.
On one hand, you have Raj telling us that the "silos" are no longer separate, and that very separation was the last tenuous fiber holding together the argument that Express is a true airline and should remain RLA. I fully agree that there is nobody jumping forward as a White Knight to come to the defense of workers. Rather, this is an issue that will be played out in the courts over a long period of time. Watch and wait.
I'm not sure what you mean by "building evidence". If your definition is that FDX deserves to do whatever they want and flaunt the law(s), I'd have to disagree strongly. Rather than building evidence, my take is that they've gradually gotten away with more and more by incrementally building-up the hybrid model over time, creating infrastructure while simultaneously pushing the limits and paying-off the right people to ensure a lack of political and legislative pushback. That will come from UPS, and I would expect them to eventually prevail in court or in front of the NLB.
Most people here seem to diminish the whole RLA deal and that begs the question. Why is Express so focused on maintaining it if it's so irrelevant? They have literally thrown tens of millions of dollars at it through PACs, lobbyists etc. Employees obviously would NEVER vote for a union given the excellent treatment they receive, right? The pilots don't care because they're already ALPA. The answer is that FDX is fully devoted to being anti-union, and dealing with unions in the most antediluvian methodology possible. They have created an entire business model to kill any pretense of unions, and it extends to all the opcos.
If you work for Express and try to organize, you're gone. The same with Freight. The pilots were able to do it only because they're a relatively small work group, have limited domiciles, and a highly sought after skill set. Plus, the vast majority are educated, and smart enough to protect themselves from a predatory employer.
And, actually, that is a fitting final comment to this post. FDX is a predatory employer, one that breaks the law(s) at will, and ensures that employees who dare to question it's employment practices are dealt with harshly and most likely, terminated. What's going on now is the highest form of predation, and it is harming the welfare of not only employees, but the customer base as well. I guess they should just always be allowed to do business according to their own rules. No.
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Who are the real bigots?
