January 27, 2009: The change of operations hearing in Dallas to allocate jobs and seniority in the Yellow-Roadway merger will continue for at least a third day. It was originally scheduled for two days, but by Tuesday afternoon only the Central Region locals and half of the Eastern locals had been heard.

A lot of the time is taken up with locals contesting the company on how many workers get to follow their work. Where a terminal is losing work to a gaining terminal, that transfer of workers will occur before the overall pool bidding.

It is clear that the seniority lists will be dovetailed, including all active and laid off Teamsters, aside from a few possible exceptions including in Chicago. There will be a window period, during which time if work opens up in a gaining terminal, more workers will be afforded the right to move. There will also be a subcommittee set up to deal with mistakes made.

The decision will probably issue quickly after the hearing concludes, because YRC intends to hold bids by mid-February and implement the mega merger by March 1.