America's Port Truckers Deliver a Resounding Yes Winning Union Recognition as Teamsters in Historic Vote; Drivers Coast to Coast Cite Los Angeles Victory to Clinch Collective Bargaining Rights They Are Currently Denied

LOS ANGELES – Amidst jubilant chants of “Yes We Did!” in Spanish and English, a brave group of professional truck drivers who haul brand-name fashion imports celebrated late evening news that they trounced in their closely-watched election to unite as Teamsters, despite their foreign employer’s vicious and expensive year-long campaign to intimidate workplace leaders and suppress their free choice.

Click here to read more at The Grim Truth at Toll Group.

April 10, 2012: YRC Freight implemented two changes of operations over the April 7 weekend, reconfiguring its terminal network to speed freight and reduce handling.

The restructuring, approved by the Teamsters union last month, eliminated road domiciles, shifting drivers from end-of-the-line terminals to hubs, the company said.

Click here to read more at The Journal of Commerce.

March 22, 2012: James Welch received almost $2 million in direct compensation during his first five months as the new CEO of YRC Worldwide Inc., according to the company’s annual proxy statement.

The statement, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, showed that Welch received a salary of $305,128 and stock valued by the company at $1.6 million on the date it was granted.

Click here to read more at Kansas City Business Journal.

March 21, 2012: The Teamsters union has agreed to allow YRC Worldwide Inc. to proceed with a realignment of its less-than-truckload operations that will allow the carrier to effectively exit the shorter-haul delivery business.

In a memo dated March 16, Gordon Sweeton, a Teamsters international vice president overseeing the union's response to YRC's proposed change of operations, said the Overland Park, Kan.-based carrier could implement the change as soon as April 8. A YRC spokeswoman said the company would implement the change on that date.

Click here to read more at DC Velocity.

March 19, 2012: YRC, with the approval of the International Union, is now moving to implement its change of operations on a fast-track. The decision of the change of operations committee is available here.

The decision states in paragraph #1 that the committee agreed that the proposed change is "unique in scope" and "must be implemented expeditiously" because of economic conditions. Paragraph #1 cites Article 8, section 6(G) of the contract, which states that the contract seniority rules are intended solely as general standards and the committee can alter them for particular circumstances.

It begins with that hard fact, but the decision ends (at paragraph #47) with pure fantasy: the company "will not divert any freight to sister or subsidiary companies." YRC execs have repeatedly stated that the goal of the change is precisely to direct short haul freight away from YRC and to Holland, Reddaway and New Penn.

The decision states (paragraph #6) that the provisions of Article 3, sections 2 (7)a and (7)b "shall be strictly enforced." This means that laid-off YRC Teamsters get first crack at any hiring at Holland, Reddaway or New Penn, within their home local union jurisdiction, in the order that they apply.  Paragraph #6 goes on to state that such laid-off Teamsters only have to pass a drug-screen, have a satisfactory driving record, and not have an excessive absenteeism record.

The decision allows the extensive use of follow-the-work bidding proposed by the company. If a follow-the-work bid does not fill, then those open positions will then be available for pool bidding, per paragraph #26 of the decision.

The implementation date is April 8. As of that date, all utility positions will be eliminated, and most of end-of-line road boards will be closed or reduced.

UPS Freight Decisions

March 12, 2012: Market share of 10 biggest LTL truckers rose from 68 to 73 percent.

The biggest less-than-truckload carriers got bigger in 2011, with the number of LTL companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue climbing to 10.

Regional carrier Saia joined the LTL “billion-dollar club,” increasing sales 14.1 percent in 2011 to $1.03 billion, according to a study by SJ Consulting Group.

The 10 largest LTL carriers increased their revenue 17 percent in 2011 to $22.2 billion, while the total LTL market expanded 11.6 percent to $30.6 billion.

Cumulatively, the revenue of those 10 trucking companies represented 73 percent of the total LTL market last year, compared with 68 percent in 2010.

Last year, the billion-dollar 10 accounted for 81 percent of the revenue of the Top 25 LTL carriers ranked by SJ Consulting Group for The Journal of Commerce.

That growth underscored the increasing strength of the recovery among the top LTL carriers since 2009, when LTL revenue dropped 25 percent in one year.

However, the LTL carriers were still 8.1 percent short of the $33.3 billion in revenue reported for the LTL industry in 2008, according to SJ Consulting Group data.

The fastest growing carrier in the group was Old Dominion Freight Line, which increased LTL sales 25.7 percent in 2011 to $1.7 billion, the study reports.

With $4.7 billion in revenue, FedEx Freight was the largest LTL carrier, followed by Con-way Freight and YRC Freight, both with about $3.2 billion in revenue.

UPS Freight, at $2.3 billion, was the fourth largest LTL carrier, while ODFL moved up one spot on the list to No. 5, bumping ABF Freight System, with $1.7 billion.

Estes Express Lines was the largest privately owned carrier on the list, with $1.6 billion in revenue last year, according to SJ Consulting Group estimates.

Estes was followed by YRC Worldwide’s regional group of carriers, with a combined $1.5 billion in LTL sales, R+L Carriers, with $1.2 billion, and Saia.

The complete report on the top 25 LTL carriers will be published in the March 19 issue of The Journal of Commerce and be available to JOC members online.

By William B. Cassidy for The Journal of Commerce

Acquisition Policy Reversed as Times Get Tough

March 11, 2012: Following our story last month concerning the rebranding of YRC Worldwide, the trucking and logistics group, which incorporates subsidiary YRC Freight, has, as predicted, continued its disposal of assets with the sale of the groups interest in Shanghai Jiayu Logistics Co., Ltd. to its 35-percent joint venture partner. YRC bought its 65% stake in the company in 2008 after a period stretching back several years when it had grown enormously through an acquisition policy started when the Yellow Corporation bought out the Roadway Corporation in a billion dollar deal to form the Yellow Roadway Corporation.

YRC paid $47.7 million when they purchased their share of Shanghai Jiayu Logistics, principally a less than truckload road haulage outfit, but never took up the option they had to buy the balance of shares in 2010 at the $14 million agreed. The deal was described at the time by then Chairman, President and CEO of YRC Worldwide, Bill Zollars, as, “The next step in building a comprehensive portfolio of logistics services for our customers in China.”

February 24, 2012: Highway safety advocates filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the hours-of-service rule published in December, saying it does not go far enough in addressing driver fatigue.

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Public Citizen and the Truck Safety Coalition — along two truck drivers — take issue with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s decision to keep 11 hours in the driving day and continue to allow the 34-hour restart to reset the weekly driving clock, the groups said in a statement.

Click here to read more at Transport Topics.

February 16, 2012: Earlier this month, YRC Freight, the recently re-named largest subsidiary of less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation services provider YRC Worldwide (YRCW) rolled out its plans to designate and streamline the company’s efficiency.

The company’s plan, which focused on making changes in order for the YRC Freight network more fluid, indicated that YRCW wanted to implement them by April. But these proposed changes are contingent on getting Teamsters approval, which is proving to be a sticking point.

Click here to read more at Logistics Management.