Updated September 10, 2010: The Hoffa administration will again ask YRCW Teamsters to vote to approve concessions, provided that YRCW management agrees to certain terms.

The concessions are valued at $350 million per year, and would run until March 2015, nearly five years, according to sources at the International union. This is two years beyond the expiration of the NMFA in March 2013.

Since the present pension concession, due to expire at the end of the year, amounts to about $350 million per year, this proposal appears to be approximately similar, at least in total dollar value of the concessions.

The International Union is calling on YRCW, for its part, to not renew the contract of CEO Bill Zollars, a point that many Teamster members called for back in the first and second concession votes. They are also calling for more equity-for-debt deals to be negotiated with YRCW’s lenders, so that banks would own more stock in exchange for reducing YRCW’s heavy debt load.

Part of the current concessions package—YRCW’s withdrawal from the Teamster pension plans—is slated to expire on Dec. 31, 2010. The new concession proposal appears to be a replacement for this one. The 15 percent wage concession is to expire with the contract in 2013.

What will the impact be on the pension credits of YRCW Teamsters? That is a question thousands of Teamsters will have up-front. A five-year concession package, well beyond the expiration of the contract: that will be another concern, as Teamsters will be approached for an unprecedented third time.

Teamsters for a Democratic Union will make further information available to members as soon as we can. The ratification vote of the members is projected to take place in October.