For The Record: AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney’s Labor Day Statement
WASHINGTON (PAI)--It is deeply ironic that President Bush will address the
Republican National Convention on Labor Day, as devastating as his policies have
been for working families.
Since Bush took office, we have lost more than 3 million good manufacturing
jobs. Poverty has increased 25%. Forty-seven million of us are without health
insurance. The price of gasoline has risen from $1.50 to $4 a gallon. Meanwhile,
corporations are making record profits and CEO salaries are out of sight.
But when working people try to win better wages and more control over their
lives by coming together in unions, corporate America declares all-out war–with
active support of the Bush administration.
If ever working families needed change we can believe in, it is now. We're
watching our nation sell out America's middle class and we're deeply worried
about our children's futures.
This year, there's historic energy and enthusiasm around this election because America's voters are faced with a fundamental choice: To continue down
the road we've taken and end up in a swamp of inequality where corporations and
the wealthy always get more--or to turn around America and ensure health care
for all, fair trade, the freedom to improve our lives through unions, and a fair
share of the wealth that working people create.
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has a record of putting communities--not corporations
--first and helping average people get our fair share. He is committed to
creating good, middle-class jobs and affordable health care for all, and he
wants to end tax breaks for corporations that send jobs overseas.
Obama understands the single most powerful way to transform our economy and our
nation is to make sure every worker who wants to form a union can do so, by
passing the Employee Free Choice Act.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) plans to continue the Bush record of putting
corporate profit over working families' needs. McCain is a self-proclaimed free
trader, wants to tax our employer-provided health care benefits and continues to
support tax breaks for Big Oil.

Teamsters Target FedEx In Latest Corporate Responsibility Campaign
WASHINGTON (PAI)--The Teamsters are taking on FedEx--the nation’s largest
package delivery service and an aggressively non-union firm--in their latest
corporate responsibility campaign.
In a Sept. 2 letter to company shareholders, and specifically to mutual funds
and other large FedEx investors, Teamsters Secretary-Treasurer Thomas Keegel
seeks support of the union’s proposal that FedEx have an independent board
chairman. That would split the current duties of FedEx CEO Frederick W. Smith.
The Teamsters plan to bring up their proposal at the FedEx annual meeting in
Memphis, Tenn.
Keegel’s letter to the other investors said Smith's dual role as chairman and
CEO of FedEx results in a CEO-dominated board incapable of providing the
rigorous, independent oversight of management that its investors require.
"With Smith at the helm, FedEx's board has presided over poor corporate
performance, excessive CEO pay, and an unlawful and unsustainable business model that could cost FedEx billions," Keegel’s letter said.
Keegel noted that in fiscal year 2008, FedEx “reported disappointing returns on
investment.” Nevertheless, The Corporate Library, an independent research firm
on corporate governance, reported Smith accrued more than $42 million in total
actual compensation, he told the other investors. TCL data reveals FedEx
“significantly underperformed the trucking and shipping industry and the S&P 500
Index on a 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year total shareholder returns basis,” Keegel
pointed out.
He also raised concerns that Smith's control of a board full of conflicts of
interest led the FedEx board to rubber-stamp “an unlawful, unsustainable
business model at FedEx’s #2 revenue generating business segment, FedEx Ground,
which has exposed the company to staggering legal and financial risks.”
“The FedEx Ground business model relies on the misclassification of employee
drivers as ‘independent contractors,’ to let FedEx to evade expenses like
payroll taxes, overtime pay, and benefits. Numerous state courts and government agencies are
now finding that FedEx Ground's ‘independent contractor’ model is a sham and are
looking to collect the money workers and states have been denied,” the letter
says.
One of those agencies is the IRS, which ruled that in 2002 alone, FedEx owed
hundreds of millions of dollars in payroll taxes for misclassifying its drivers
as “independent contractors.” Keegel’s letter cited news reports calculating the
pre-tax liability from unpaid FedEx payroll taxes alone could reach $2.5 billion
nationwide.
"With no independent board leadership and management firmly entrenched, we
believe shareholders face a ‘perfect storm’ as FedEx undergoes heightened legal,
regulatory, and public scrutiny regarding FedEx Ground's driver
misclassifications," Keegel said. "Last year 27% of the vote by investors
supported our call for independent board leadership....Now, more than ever, an
independent chairman is necessary to ensure the board confronts these escalating challenges with rigorous, independent oversight of management."