Rip Watson Transport Topics January 20, 2014 View the original piece UPS Inc. said an unexpected surge of last-minute Internet gift orders during a compressed peak holiday season strained its delivery system, leading to fourth-quarter earnings of about $1.25 per share, or 18 cents below Wall Street estimates. “U.S. results were negatively impacted by the challenges of the compressed peak season coupled with an unprecedented level of online shopping that included a surge of last-minute...

By Mark Davis The Kansas City Star January 17, 2014 View the original piece Teamsters union leaders on Friday announced a tentative contract agreement with Overland Park-based YRC Worldwide Inc. that the struggling company called the “best — and only remaining — path forward.” A statement from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said union leaders had engaged in “round-the-clock negotiations” with YRC officials since the trucking firm’s own contract proposal was overwhelmingly voted down last...

Mark B. Solomon DC Velocity January 14, 2014 View the original piece Unionized workers at UPS Freight, the less-than-truckload (LTL) division of UPS Inc., over the weekend overwhelmingly ratified a five-year collective-bargaining agreement a bit more than six months after they rejected an earlier version by an equally decisive margin. The roughly 13,000 UPS Freight workers, which are represented by the Teamsters union, approved the contract by a margin of 5,222 to 2,107. In late...

William B. Cassidy Journal of Commerce January 12, 2014 View the original piece If it hopes to survive as a company, YRC Worldwide needs to act quickly after Teamsters employees rejected extended wage and benefit concessions the trucking operator’s lenders made a prerequisite for refinancing $1.36 billion in debt. However, the nation’s second-largest less-than-truckload operator has only one route forward — back through the same Teamsters who rejected the concessions. That means either a second...

Mark B. Solomon DC Velocity January 11, 2014 View the original piece The decisive rejection yesterday by YRC Worldwide Inc.'s unionized workers of the company's proposed five-year contract extension was more than a referendum on the merits of the proposal. It was a referendum on the past four years. Since 2009, the less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier's 26,000-member rank and file have agreed to multiple concessionary agreements to keep their employer alive. The givebacks have resulted in reduced...

Mark B. Solomon DC Velocity January 10, 2014 View the original piece The workers of YRC Worldwide Inc. represented by the Teamsters union have soundly rejected the company's proposal to extend the current five-year collective bargaining agreement until 2019, according to a final tally disclosed this evening. Of the roughly 19,600 members who cast ballots, 12,028 rejected the proposal, according to the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), a dissident group. The union represents about...

John Schulz Logistics Management January 10, 2014 View the original piece For YRC Worldwide, it’s onto Plan B in the wake of the stunning rejection of a five-year deal to continue 15 percent wage and benefit cuts by its 26,000 Teamsters workers. So what is next? Whatever road YRC chooses, it’s clear that shippers hold the key to long-term survival of the venerable 90-year-old company whose roots date to the golden age of trucking. YRC...

Barry Rand AARP January 07, 2014 View the original piece With 10,000 people turning 65 every day, our nation should be doing everything possible to protect the pensions of those who have worked hard their entire lives and are counting on those benefits during their retirement years. Instead, pensions are increasingly coming under attack — for those still in the workforce, and for people who are already retired and living on the pensions they have...

Mark Davis Kansas City Star January 07, 2014 View the original piece Two days of ballot counting starts Wednesday morning, with the paychecks of 26,000 Teamsters and the future of YRC Worldwide Inc. hanging on the outcome. This is the fourth time in five years the unionized drivers, dock workers, mechanics, clerks, porters, janitors and maintenance workers have voted on reduced pay and benefits. Each time, the struggling Overland Park-based trucking giant has said it...

Krista Giovacco Bloomberg News January 07, 2014 View the original piece YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW), the U.S. trucker that averted bankruptcy in 2011, is seeking $1.15 billion in loans to refinance debt, according to a person with knowledge of the transaction. Click here to read more at Bloomberg News.