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Week of Events a Success
December 16, 2005
UPS Teamsters from throughout the West took time out from
the peak shipping season this week to support workers at FedEx Express and to
inform them about a class-action race discrimination suit filed against the
company.
 A
judge’s ruling in late September, 2005, opened the door for thousands of black
and Latino employees of nonunion FedEx Express to sue the company over claims of
discrimination in pay, promotions, evaluations and discipline. Employees sued
FedEx Express over personnel practices in the company’s Western region.
The lawsuit alleges FedEx Express relegates minorities to the lowest-paying jobs
with the least job security and denies them promotions through discriminatory
tests, subjective evaluation standards and a culture of hostility.
This week, UPS Teamsters handed out leaflets to FedEx Express workers arriving
to work and leaving for their routes at centers across the West.
‘Positive Response’
“We got a very positive response,” said Grant Maertz, a 17-year employee of
UPS and member of Local 952 in Orange, California. “Even the managers listened
to us while keeping one eye on the center to see if other managers were
watching.”
Maertz, a package-car driver and steward, was one of among
seven UPS Teamsters who leafleted outside the FedEx Express center in Fullerton,
California. Other Local 952 UPS members handed out fliers at the FedEx center in
Irvine.
More than half of the FedEx workers in Fullerton took fliers on their way into
work, said Dan Rafferty, a Local 952 business agent. About 60 percent of the
drivers heading out on their routes gave a thumbs up to the Teamsters.
“We didn’t know what to expect. We began the day in the darkness,” said Bob
Hahn, Local 952 President. “But it turned out to be a very positive day.”
Other UPS Teamsters handed out leaflets to FedEx Express workers in Arizona,
Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Washington state and other locations in California.
HRC Action
Mary Lou Salmeron, President of Local 986 in South El Monte, California,
handed out fliers at a nearby FedEx center.
“We got a very positive response,” said Salmeron, who is a
member of the Teamsters Human Rights Commission (HRC). “A majority of the
workers took the fliers, and we could see them reading the fliers.”
Salmeron said she will discuss the race discrimination lawsuit at FedEx and this
week’s activities during the next HRC meeting from January 12-16.
In the Seattle area, about 10 union staff members and UPS workers handed out
fliers, where the response was equally positive.
“The company definitely got the message that was on the leaflets, that people
are more important than packages,” said Scott Sullivan, a Joint Council 28
organizer. |
