Ladies and Gents,
This is a gentle reminder that we are conducting a business transaction, and it's no time to get emotional. The Collective Bargaining Agent that represents our interests in the deal has conducted itself and continues to conduct itself in a very professional manner, making only reasonable requests that reflect the combined will of our pilot group. Likewise, our employer continues to, as anyone would expect, attempt to extract as much productivity out of us for the very least amount of compensation. No surprises, right?
We know the tactics they will use, and we will not be swayed. Remain cool, do your job, and allow the negotiating committee to do its job.
I ran across this letter a few days ago, and had to chuckle. I'm sure you've heard of the "Red Letters." Well, this one reads much like one of those, but it is printed on white paper. It arrived at my home via FedEx Priority Overnight one Wednesday morning, 10 NOV 98.
Enjoy:
INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
DATE: November 10, 1998 TO: All FedEx Crewmembers
FROM: Theodore L. Weise
RE: Pilot Negotiations
The Fedex Pilot's Association leadership has now distributed strike ballots and it is clear that they have adopted a predetermined strategy designed to bring us to the brink of a strike or beyond. I want to make sure that you fully understand the consequences the FPA leadership's actions have already had, and that you understand the potential consequences of following their current course. I urge you to inform yourself and weigh the potential impact of your vote on you, your family, our other employees, and our customers.
Two weeks ago I directed the Federal Express negotiating team to resume negotiations with the FPA in an effort to do everything we could to reach an agreement. Over the course of the three day session ending October 30th, we put our best offer on the table, but the FPA negotiating committee rejected it. The details of our proposal are on the internet at pilot.fedex.com.
FedEx has always been committed to reaching a collective bargaining agreement that significantly enhances pilot pay, benefits and work rules. We will not, however, risk our business and the livelihoods of our other employees. Without an agreement and with the threat of a strike looming, we have no alternative but to implement more stages of our contingency plans. The timetable for implementing these stages is measured in days, not weeks and some contractors are requiring long-term commitments. As these commitments are made, we will not be able to back away from them.
The confrontational strategy adopted by the FPA leadership has forced us to develop contingency plans to protect our business. Federal Express will remain open for business regardless of what happens in this dispute. In the event of a strike the following options are likely:
- Restructure the international system to operate entirely with contract lift. Practically all of our major competitors already do this.
- Revamp our domestic overnight service to operate with the pilots who decide to come to work and with contract lift. The initial scope of that service would depend on the number of pilots who will fly.
- Mobilize a large ground network to provide nationwide domestic one, two, and three day services. We have already arranged enough line haul trucking to accomplish this task.
- Pilots who choose to strike may come back to work only when we have pilot jobs available. If a restructured smaller network is necessary, we will not require as many pilots as in our current network.
The proposal we had on the table until midnight on October 30 put FedEx pilots at or near the top of the industry in nearly every category. The FPA negotiating committee rejected that proposal, countering instead with a demand that would cost $400.9 million more in compensation alone than our proposals over the life of the agreement.
Some might ask why we would consider taking the measures outlined above rather than simply acceding to the FPA leadership's contract demands? We cannot meet the FPA leadership's demands and still fulfill our repsonsibilitites to our other 140,000 employees, not to mention our customers and shareholders. In fact, the contingencies we have already paid for and the customers we may lose could require a retreat from the proposals that we last put on the table.
Don't make the mistake of believing that this is just a negotiating tactic; it is not. In the short term, we will alter our business to fit the network we are able to operate. In the long term, we will rebuild. This is not what I prefer, but it provides the opportunity to run a profitable business while protecting, to the greatest extent possibile, the jobs of our employees and the expectations of our customers and shareholders. This strategy has the unanimous support of our Board of Directors.
-signed-
Theodore L. Weise
You see, this e-mail from Rebholz is nothing new, and it wasn't unexpected.
He tries to circumvent the process by coming directly to the pilot. We knew they would.
He tries to paint the negotiating committee as unreasonable. We knew they would.
There is no element of the letter that was not anticipated, not tactic that has not been seen before.
We will not be swayed.
My negotiating committee speaks for me.
494 days, 11 hours, 39 minutes and 25 seconds
