Central States Notice and the Future of YRC Pensions
May 5, 2010: As required under the Pension Protection Act (PPA), Central States has mailed an Annual Notice regarding the plan’s funding status. Teamster participants employed at YRC and Holland also received a letter from Executive Director Thomas Nyhan. The letter raises concern about whether YRC will honor their contractual obligations and resume pension contributions on January 1, 2011. Nyhan admits that, “We cannot guarantee that YRC will resume participating in the Pension Fund at...
YRC Worldwide considers looming financial hurdles
May 4, 2010: While YRC Worldwide Inc. CEO Bill Zollars said the company is making headway in its comeback bid, he acknowledged that pension expenses loom as a hazard. “That’s the biggest single cost that would return to us in 2011,” Chairman and CEO Bill Zollars said during a Tuesday conference call to discuss YRC's first-quarter earnings. Click here to read more at the Kansas City Business Journal.
ABF Teamsters Speak Out
UPDATED May 20, 2010: Ballots are in the mail for proposed concessions at ABF, and members are speaking out. Here’s what some of them are saying. Yeah! What happened? ABF, so they claim, is #1 in the industry in pricing, if the freight doesn't pay, they don't haul it. ABF claims to be #1 in the industry in cargo claims and at the present time at a historical low claims cost for the company. ABF...
YRC stacks its board with turnaround experts
May 3, 2010: YRC Worldwide Inc. outlined an overhaul of its board of directors on Friday. The move is part of a deal the trucking carrier struck to entice bondholders to swap debt for equity. Seven members of the YRC board will resign effective May 11, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Five new members — most with experience in turning around companies — will join the board while four current directors...
Feeder Driver Beats UPS on Safety
April 30, 2010: John Youngermann, a TDU member and UPS feeder driver out of the Earth City, Missouri, hub won an important OSHA ruling that supported a driver’s right to refuse to drive unsafe equipment. On April 22, 2010, OSHA awarded Youngermann compensatory and punitive damages as well as back pay with overtime and interest. Youngermann phoned the company to try to get the equipment repaired without success, and finally refused to pull a trailer...
ABF Ballots Counted May 24th
April 29, 2010: The IBT is mailing ballots to all ABF Teamsters—active and on layoff—on Friday, April 30, and they will be counted on Monday, May 24. Contact your local if you don’t receive a ballot by Friday, May 7 and be sure to get a replacement ballot. TDU has won the right to have independent Teamster members as observers at ballot counts. For further information on being an observer, contact TDU. Opposition to ABF...
FedEx Drivers Aren’t Pilots
April 28, 2010: Watch the new Teamster video and take action to win organizing rights and level the playing field at FedEx. The Teamsters Union has launched a new website to expose FedEx’s ridiculous claim that they are an airline and they deserve different treatment than rival package companies like UPS. The website, FedExDriversArentPilots, is part of a campaign to close the FedEx loophole which helps FedEx stay nonunion and pay substandard wages and benefits...
Teamsters, Waste Management reach tentative agreement
April 28, 2010: Waste Management and Teamsters Local 174 have reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year contract. Union officials said they will recommend that members approve the new contract when they take a ratification vote on Sunday. Click here to read more at Seattle PI.
Victory in Puerto Rico
April 28, 2010: More than 34 Teamsters in Puerto Rico have won justice after they were illegally fired for striking to defend their union rights at Coca Cola. And Teamsters Local 901 has been ordered to reinstate three reform leaders who were illegally banned from union membership. When Local 901 members at Coca Cola in Puerto Rico went on strike, the company retaliated and so did their own union officers. More than three dozen Teamsters...
UPS Profits Up 33 Percent
April 27, 2010: UPS executives announced that the company hauled in $533 million in profits after taxes in the first quarter of 2010. Brown’s profits are up by 33 percent or $132 million compared to the first quarter last year. Package revenue is up even more—spiking 46 percent compared to the first quarter last year. Brown execs say that daily package volume increased by 2.7 percent and they expect it to climb again in the...