MONTREAL — After a yearslong battle, 52 workers in Fort McMurray, Alberta, have succeeded in unionizing their workplace, becoming the first FedEx unit to win union certification in Canada. They’re now members of Teamsters Local 362.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board issued its union certification order May 1. They join thousands of other parcel delivery workers at UPS and Purolator who have been Teamsters union members for years. The union officials will now begin negotiating their first contract.
At the heart of the union recognition fight were the rights of the 31 workers in the FedEx unit who are temporary foreign workers or international foreign students. The FedEx bosses claimed they don’t have the right to join the union along with workers who are citizens or have permanent residency in Canada. But in an important victory for workers’ unity and solidarity, the certification order includes these workers.
Teamsters’ union officials charged that the FedEx bosses’ position is “morally indefensible.”
“FedEx tried to divide these workers along the lines of where they were born,” Francois Laporte, president of Teamsters Canada, said in a May 2 release. “Today, they stand together as Teamsters, and they will sit together at the bargaining table. This is a May Day victory in every sense of the word.”
The FedEx couriers earn approximately $3 an hour less than UPS and Purolator workers. Also, 3% of their wages are put into their pensions, while the pensions of the other package delivery workers are fully funded by their employer. FedEx workers are required to lift packages up to 100 pounds, whereas two workers would do the heavy lifting at UPS and Purolater.
Some of the FedEx temporary workers have “closed” work permits, meaning their right to stay in Canada depends on keeping their jobs. Because of their precarious status, they need union protection against abuses by the FedEx bosses.
Winning a first contract will need the solidarity of the labor movement as a whole, as well as all defenders of immigrant rights.
Solidarity messages can be sent to Christopher Monette, director of Public Affairs, Teamsters Canada at cmonette@teamsters.ca.