Mechanics Settlement with YRCW

UPDATED April 18, 2013: YRCW and the union for 200 mechanics at 15 Holland and YRC terminals have reached a tentative agreement, and the threat of a lock-out is over, at least for now.

Members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) will be voting on the contract.

The Hoffa administration has taken the company's side, noting that the union mechanics are not going along with the "equality of sacrifice" envisioned in the Teamster memorandum of understanding.

But many rank-and-file Teamsters made clear that they had no intention of crossing picket lines. This bottom-up solidarity undercut management's strategy of isolating the mechanics.

YRCW CEO James Welch had minimized the dispute, telling the media the mechanics are "less than 0.1%" of YRCW's workforce. (His math is lousy: they are about ten times that, or 1%.) But with some Teamsters set to honor lines, Welch backed off his statement to the media of "we will lock them out" and continued to bargain.

Hopefully the tentative agreement is satisfactory, and the issue will be resolved.

See below for a comment from Sam Cicinelli, Business Representative for IAM Mechanics Union Local 701, thanking Teamster members for their solidarity.

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