Amid a hard-fought Senate race, Democratic candidate Martha Coakley tried to rev up union support yesterday by pledging to support organizing efforts of FedEx carrier workers across the country.

The Teamsters’ fight for a level playing field for workers in the freight and package delivery industry received a major boost today when Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Martha Coakley signed on to support the Express Carrier Employee Protection Act.

The latest issue of our Nuts and Bolts newsletter is now available. It contains important information on Canadian organizing at FedEx, the ongoing commitment of UPS Teamsters to organizing workers at FedEx Express, and an update on our Express Carrier Employee Protection Act legislation. Among the highlights of this issue is a review of our work in 2009; and a lot happened; and the Teamster involvement in proposing upcoming changes to the National Mediation Board voting process for all airline workers.

Please take the time to read this issue carefully and tell your co-workers about it.
 

We have accomplished a lot this year. Here is a listing of some notable highlights that took place during 2009 in the FedEx Express campaign.

We took some time off from work a few weeks ago to go to the Teamsters headquarters in Washington, D.C to help out with the FedEx campaign Teamsters Canada launched this year. Why? Because we strongly believe that organizing at FedEx in the United States and in Canada will greatly benefit all FedEx workers and we wanted to help out. We all need to be working under a Teamster contract.

The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the FAA Reauthorization Bill on Dec. 10th.

This action will help move the FAA Reauthorization bill one step closer to a vote on the Senate floor. We are hopeful that the Finance Committee will quickly follow this hearing with its markup of the bill, clearing the final hurdle for the Senate to vote on the bill.

It appears once again we are being given the opportunity to "pay more for less." Our costs will be going up and our coverage is diminishing. Depending on what plan you opt for and what insurances you sign on to, deductions from our paychecks will apparently go up yet again.

I attended the shareholders meeting and found some of Fred Smith’s statements incredulous, to say the least. Here are some of the more ‘memorable’ moments I found looking through the transcript.

The latest issue of our Nuts and Bolts newsletter is now available. It contains important information on the FedEx shareholders' meeting, insurance comparisons between UPS and FedEx, and the Express Carrier Employee Protection Act among the highlights. Please take the time to read it carefully and tell your co-workers about it.
 

Get ready for an intense new round in the long-running fight over which workers are independent contractors.