Los Angeles FedEx Workers Testify Before Blue Ribbon Commission Panel

Workers Struggling to Stay in Middle Class Hope to Join Teamsters

FedEx workers in Los Angeles testified today before a Blue Ribbon Commission panel that they are on the verge of slipping from the middle class because of dwindling benefits, higher out-of-pocket medical costs and an overall decline in workplace conditions.

The Blue Ribbon Commission hearing is co-sponsored by: the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO; and Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE). Economic experts, clergy members and workers discussed ways to help the workers remain in the middle class and remedy the anti-union situation they are battling. The commissioners on the panel are: U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA); Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl; and Bishop Mary Ann Swenson of the United Methodist Church, Los Angeles area.

The workers said they hope to form a union with the Teamsters to gain a good contract that would guarantee them job security, better wages and benefits. But they said those efforts have created an anti-union backlash at many workplaces, with the company holding anti-union mandatory meetings, distributing anti-union literature, showing anti-union videos at work and engaging in many acts of intimidation.

"Pro-union employees are followed into restrooms by managers who look over stalls," said Rudy Hernandez, a 20-year FedEx employee who currently is a FedEx Freight driver. "Dispatchers tell drivers if they vote the union in, FedEx will close down this terminal."

But despite all the anti-union activities, Hernandez and four FedEx Express aviation mechanics testified that they remain committed to forming a union with the Teamsters.
Dan Forrand, a Senior Aviation Mechanic Technician at FedEx Express, said he planned to retire when he turned 62. But when FedEx changed its defined benefit pension plan to a cash balance plan on June 1, Forrand knew he would have to work longer to recoup financial losses.

"I've calculated that I'll lose about $230,000 that I would have accrued under the defined benefit plan," Forrand said. "I am worried that I am slipping out of the middle class."

Economic experts and clergy members voiced their support for these workers and discussed ways to remedy their situation.

"The bottom line: without a union, FedEx mechanics have no job security," said Jon Zerolnick, Senior Research Analyst for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE). "Currently their jobs can be outsourced and hours cut -- and lives are seriously impacted -- at the whim of management. They need a union to protect jobs."

"As members of the Los Angeles clergy community, we hear these stories of struggle every day," said Pastor Bridie C. Roberts of CLUE LA. "These workers need the help of everyone to keep themselves and their families in the middle class."

Over the last few years, FedEx workers have taken a look at Teamster strength in their industry. The Teamsters represent about 240,000 full-time and part-time workers at UPS and 12,600 at UPS Freight. The UPS and UPS Freight workers are benefiting from strong contracts that guarantee them wage increases, job security, good health coverage and a pension plan that cannot be taken away. FedEx workers have no contract.

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, is focused on promoting a voice for workers so they can remain in the middle class, or move themselves out of poverty, by joining a union. The federation believes that in educating and mobilizing workers to be politically active they can create and sustain healthy communities.

CLUE was formed with the purpose of organizing the religious community to support low-wage workers in their struggles for a living wage, health benefits, respect, and a voice in the corporate and political decisions which affect them. CLUE LA is an interfaith association of more than 600 religious leaders throughout Los Angeles County who come together to respond to the crisis of the working poor.