December 4, 2008: YRC Worldwide CEO Bill Zollars says the proposed concessions will “wipe out the difference between union and nonunion” in the freight industry.

Zollars confirmed TDU’s report that cutting Teamster wages would save the company $1 billion over the next four years.

“This pretty much wipes out the difference between union and non-union in our industry, in terms of our cost-base,” Zollars told CNBC in an interview this morning.

That’s Corporate America’s goal: to destroy what unions have achieved for working people and bring us all down to the nonunion level. Where’s our union’s plan to reverse this slide to the bottom?

YRC After More Savings

Zollars has also told CNBC that the company will work with the Teamsters to cut additional costs by getting relief from YRC having to support Teamster retirees who worked for companies that have gone out of business.

“The longer term solution here though is to deal with these ‘orphans’ in a more effective way so the Teamsters and our company will be working with the new administration to see if we can’t take care of that,” Zollars told CNBC.

Zollars told Bloomberg News he has talked with Obama administration officials.“They understand the issue,” Zollars said.

Click here to watch a video of the CNBC interview.