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FedEx workers to strike on Monday after talks stall

The Transport Workers Union says FedEx workers will hold national 24-hour strikes on Monday after the company exploited the suspension of strikes this week to ship what the union calls FedEx's American anti-worker campaign to Australia and change the terms of the agreement.

In good faith, the union says FedEx workers had paused strikes planned for yesterday to allow the company to provide a fair agreement offer at a further negotiation meeting.

Talks broke down yesterday after FedEx rolled back progression towards an agreement by trying to stretch its length out by another year. The TWU says approach swindles workers out of repayment for hard work during the pandemic and destabilises growth as the economy recovers.

In the previous weeks, TWU members had made great progress in obtaining job security protections, but other terms are now being attacked dragging down standards already below those of other major transport operators like Toll and Linfox.

TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said Australian FedEx workers will not stand for the Amazon-style union-busting tactics the company wants to ship over from America.

“FedEx workers are angry their good faith has been twisted, exploited and thrown back in their face this week. While six other transport operators have settled fair agreements in the last two weeks, FedEx is keeping its foot on workers’ necks,” Kaine says.

“It is a disgrace that FedEx took the extra time agreed to by workers to change tack and launch a fresh assault on their terms and conditions. These workers generated record multibillion-dollar profits for FedEx but their pay and conditions fall dangerously below those at their competitors like Toll and Linfox.

“When standards are dragged down in transport, it has deadly consequences.

“In the US, FedEx spent $837,000 on a union-busting campaign when workers fought for parity with UPS workers. The Australian Federal Government has allowed American cellar-dwellers Amazon and FedEx to set up shop and go about their business attacking workers with no regulation to keep them in check. Workers have no choice but to fight back,” Kaine says.

National StarTrack strikes took place yesterday after the company refused several requests to meet worker representatives and finalise a fair agreement.

FedEx has come back saying it is cooperatively negotiating with the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) to secure an agreement which will provide fair wage and superannuation increases, as well as address the job security provisions. 

FedEx says it is disappointed that the TWU continues to threaten to take industrial action at FedEx.

FedEx says it has been in ongoing negotiations with the TWU for the past six months, most recently on October 19, 2021. FedEx says it has tabled an offer which improves current employee entitlements and includes a fair wage and superannuation increase. These increases would come on top of the already above – market wage rates and superannuation which FedEx says it pays its employees.

FedEx says it does anticipate some service impact on account of the industrial action. 

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