July 10, 2009: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has reached a tentative agreement with YRC Worldwide Inc. on modifications to the terms of their current collective bargaining agreement that would reduce the company's cost structure while protecting IBT members' jobs, the company and union announced July 9. “This is a tough situation for the company and our members,” Tyson Johnson, Teamsters freight division director and co-chairman of the National Freight Industry Negotiating Subcommittee, said in...

July 10, 2009: The tentative agreement between the International Union and YRC will soon be in the hands of some 45,000 working and laid-off YRC Teamsters. Details on the proposed agreement will be available after the July 14 meeting of local union officials in Chicago. The main element of the proposed agreement is a temporary withdrawal of YRC from the various Teamster pension plans, which would save the company some $40 million per month. Teamsters...

July 9, 2009: The IBT has reached a tentative agreement with YRC over a temporary suspension of YRC’s participation in Teamster pension plans. No details of the agreement are available yet. TDU will provide details for members as soon as they are available. The tentative agreement will have to be voted on by the affected members in a national mail ballot. Click here to read the IBT announcement. Click here to sign up for email...

July 8, 2009: Struggling No. 1 U.S. trucking company YRC Worldwide Inc has asked investment bank Rothschild to evaluate potential bond exchanges as part of its restructuring plans, according to a source familiar with the matter. Rothschild was retained early this year by Overland Park, Kansas-based YRC, but has only recently been asked to take a more active role, the source said. Click here to read more at the New York Times.

July 7, 2009: A Bronx, N.Y., bakery whose 134 employees went on strike in August 2008 must reinstate them under the terms of their expired contract and pay them wages dating back to May 6, 2009, when they offered to return to work, a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge ruled June 30 (Stella D'Oro Biscuit Co., NLRB ALJ, No. 2-CA-38960, 6/30/09). In his opinion, ALJ Steven Davis found that Stella D'Oro Biscuit Co....

July 6, 2009: YRC Worldwide Inc. is set to resume face-to-face negotiations with its union on Wednesday as the two seek a way to help YRC maintain sufficient cash to continue operating. Click here to read more at the Kansas City Business Journal.

July 6, 2009: When he served as president of Teamsters Local 282, based in Lake Success and representing private construction workers, Gary LaBarberawon praise for transforming the organization from a mob enterprise into "a model of union democracy," in the words of his lawyer, Bruce Maffeo. Two years ago, LaBarbera was called in to help salvage the New York City Central Labor Council after ex-Assemb. Brian McLaughlin - due this month to begin serving 10...

July 6, 2009: More than two-thirds (68 percent) of calendar year multiemployer plans with funding problems severe enough to warrant their being in critical status—the red zone—elected to take advantage of a “status freeze” that Congress provided in 2008 to help plans stay out of the red zone in 2009, officials at the Segal Co. told BNA July 2. Those numbers are based on client data that Segal collected at the end of April, the...

July 6, 2009: The IBT and YRC will continue talks on Wednesday, July 8, when they consider a proposal to temporarily terminate YRC participation in Teamster pension plans for about 14 months. The goal is to help restore YRC to profitability. Temporary termination is slightly different from the pension deferral plan initially offered by the union; in this proposal, there would be no obligation on the part of YRC to repay the missing contributions. Teamsters...

July 2, 2009: Do you think Hoffa will be working on Friday, July 3? Too many Teamsters will—and without premium pay. The postal service, government offices and thousands of businesses will observe Friday, July 3 as a holiday. But not UPS, the biggest Teamster employer and largest union contract in the country. It doesn’t have to be this way. UPS needs a limited number of workers to make air deliveries, but could easily recruit volunteers...