Sneakiness doesn’t pay, part 1: TWU leads the world in unionising FedEx

In a blow to union-busting companies worldwide, the TWU has become the first union in the world to have an agreement with FedEx.

TWU Negotiator Therese Walton with State Secretary Wayne Forno

FedEx, a notoriously anti-union company, made the mistake of trying to pull a fast one over us. As part of its goal of  resisting unionisation, FedEx retained the services of multinational law firm Baker & McKenzie, which developed the company’s strategy to thwart negotiations.
 
A meeting between TWU and FedEx’s lawyers to go over the agreement had been arranged for June 17.
 
When TWU Negotiator Therese Walton contacted Baker & McKenzie solicitor Paul Brown on 12 June to obtain a draft of the agreement, he told her that the agreement had been given to the employees, which meant that they could be asked to vote on it a week later.
 
Therese sought clarification from Brown (who waited two days to get back to her). She immediately contacted TWU National Legal Officer Michael Burns, who lodged an application with Fair Work Australia seeking good faith bargaining orders.
 
When the Commission refused to grant the order, Michael and Therese used the Commission to assist us through a process of conciliation in which we were able to win a number of concessions from the company, including the icing on the cake: being named as a party to, and signatory of, the agreement — nationally.
 
The brochure we produced to inform FedEx employees of our win has so impressed TWU National Office that it has adopted it for circulation across all Branches.