Dangerous Production Speeds and Low Hours at FedEx World Hub

FedEx Worker Correspondent

I work in the small package sorter system (SPSS) department at the FedEx World Hub in Memphis, TN. Dangerous working conditions have left workers sick and injured while still struggling to get by.

We’re lucky if we get 20 hours of work a week. When I first started, my check was about $430 a week. With the rising cost of living, it is extremely hard to make ends meet. Most people that work here have to get one or two other jobs just to survive.

I work on the third floor of the building where it gets hot all the time. We have air available, but the air is shut off at times. There is also a problem with hydration in my area. If a particular team leader is not there, leadership will not provide you with cold water even if you ask multiple times. You can bring your own water bottle and go to the ice machine to get ice and water, but leadership complains about us getting off our lines so much. All they care about is production.

Getting to our work area is a problem because once you get through security checks, you have to ride shuttle buses to get to your main area. We don’t have enough buses for the amount of FedEx employees, so workers will push and almost knock you out to secure a spot on the bus to avoid being late.

To make up for not getting enough hours at SPSS, I decided to work in the offload department after finishing with SPSS. Offload loads the planes in the airport. Safety is supposed to be the most important thing working outside with the planes, but safety is often overlooked to get shipments out faster.

None of us have any training whatsoever to be out there, and the conditions are dangerous There was one incident with a coworker a couple of months ago, where she was loading a plane from the inside with two other workers. After she finished loading the plane, she was trying to get out and touched a part of the plane that sent an electric shock through her whole left arm, all the way to her chest.

She screamed from the pain. She told our manager, who was only concerned about getting the plane shipped out on time. Five minutes passed and my coworker continued to complain of chest pain and that she needed to throw up.

Another coworker and I decided to go and check on her. A few minutes later, our manager came and told us to get away from her. Instead of calling in house medical services that FedEx offers because of how often injuries happen, she forced my coworker to go back to the plane to explain how it happened. It took my manager 30 minutes to call medical services for my injured coworker.

The day after the incident, my manager was rushing everyone to hurry up and load a plane with live animals. We transport baby chicks, baby ducks, doves, tropical fish, and insects. Live animals are often thrown around like basketballs because of the work speed. The workers were rushed to work so fast that a box of live baby chicks fell from a high place on the conveyor belt.

When some of my coworkers picked up the box to see if the baby chicks were okay, my manager just told them to hurry up and toss them back on the line to be loaded on the plane.

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Image: FedEx trailers lined up near the FedEx World Hub in Memphis, TN. Credit: Thomas R Machnitzki (CC BY 3.0).

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