Below is the text of a leaflet for use at solidarity rallies.
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FedUp Sign
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FedExJuly23 Leaflet
Package handlers at the FedEx Ground warehouse in Brockton, Massachusetts are fighting to form a union. If the workers win the union election, scheduled for August 3rd, it will be the first time workers have ever won a union at FedEx Ground.
Over the next two weeks, these workers face a David versus Goliath type of struggle to overcome FedExs vicious anti-union campaign. Thats why we are appealing for the full support of working people everywhere to urgently support and build solidarity with this campaign. Their fight is our fight!
FedEx is also a notorious tax dodger. According to US Uncut, When it comes to paying their fair share of taxes, FedEx simply does not deliver. When FedEx made $1.9 billion in profits, they managed to pay less than .0005% of it in taxes by using 21 tax havens. FedEx also spent 42 times (4200%) more on lobbying Congress than they did in taxes.
Why a Union?
Brockton FedEx workers looking to unionize contacted Teamsters Local 653 months ago and quickly signed up 75 percent of their co-workers to the union. Like so many workers nowadays, FedEx package handlers work part-time for poverty wages starting at $10.50 and maxing out at $14.50 after four years. They work short pre-dawn or late night shifts, lifting heavy packages and working in trailers where extreme temperatures range from 2 degrees in winter to 115 degrees in the summer!
The work is exhausting and the management is demanding. Workers received no health benefits, no job security, and no guarantee of securing decent full-time positions at FedEx, one of the largest companies in the world.
American Nightmare
Jobs like this are part of the 21st century American Nightmare that corporate America and Wall Street have thrust on communities everywhere. Simply quitting and finding a better job is not an option. Brockton has one of the highest unemployment rates in Massachusetts, and the job market is only getting worse.
A union at FedEx Ground would enable workers to bargain for living wage jobs in Brockton. And in this era where most union drives end in defeat, a victory at FedEx the Walmart of the trucking industry would inspire workers everywhere to stand up to corporate America. It would raise workers confidence and could help spark a badly needed movement to organize a new generation of workers and young people into the unions.
Its in the interest of working people everywhere that Brockton FedEx Ground workers win the election on August 3, and secure a decent contract.
Union Busters
FedEx is a notorious union buster and has fought tooth and nail at the legislative and judicial levels to keep unions out. They will fight equally hard on the shop-floor level to keep a union out in Brockton.
Already, they have flown in their top union-busting executives to Brockton to wage a campaign against the union drive. The managers spread lies and misinformation about unions to whip up fears about unionization. They are having one-on-one meetings with workers, showing anti-union videos, and spreading glossy anti-union literature among the workers. Meanwhile, union activists at FedEx have been isolated from coworkers.
While big corporations like FedEx make huge profits and pay little or no taxes, working people are facing low wages, unemployment, under-employment and budget cuts. The so-called recovery has only been for Corporate America. In fact, 88% of the growth of in the recovery went to corporate profits
while only 1% went to wages!
Its time for all working peole to get organized and build mass social struggle for jobs, education, healthcare and a better future. If youd like to get involved in the FedEx campaign please contact us today.