November 2, 2010: YRC Worldwide Inc. has won a third round of concessions from its union employees in the ongoing saga of its attempts at a financial turnaround.

Now, competitor ABF Freight System Inc. is suing, saying the concessions violate a labor agreement affecting drivers and dockworkers nationwide. ABF wants the concessions, some of which started last year, to be declared null and void, and also wants $750 million in damages. Defendants include Teamsters groups and YRC subsidiaries, among others.

Click here to read more at The Kansas City Business Journal.

November 1, 2010: ABF Freight System, Inc. (ABF), the largest subsidiary of Arkansas Best Corporation (Nasdaq: ABFS) and a leading less-than-truckload transportation company, has filed legal actions today against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and other parties including several YRC Worldwide subsidiaries (Nasdaq: YRCW) for violation of the National Master Freight Agreement (NMFA), the collective bargaining agreement covering most unionized trucking employees in the country.

ABF today filed a grievance under the NMFA and also an accompanying lawsuit, naming as parties the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; the Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee; Teamsters Locals 373 (Fort Smith, AR) and 878 (Little Rock, AR), individually and as representatives of a class of all Teamsters Locals that are parties to the NMFA; YRC Inc.; New Penn Motor Express Inc.; USF Holland Inc.; and Trucking Management, Inc.

Click here to read more at PR Newswire

October 30, 2010: With the gun of a threatened shutdown aimed at their heads, YRCW Teamsters have approved new concessions and a contract extension until 2015 by a 62% margin at YRC and Holland and by 69% at New Penn.

The concessions will now go into effect immediately. On June 1, 2011, members will start receiving a $1.75 per hour pension contribution. Each pension fund has to determine what this employer contribution will buy for members. In most funds, pension trustees will have to make amendments to their plan to allow such a drastic reduction in contractual pension contributions. The current contribution rate in the freight contract is about $8.40 per hour, with variations by contract supplement.

Why Members Voted Yes

The concessionary contract extension passed despite widespread anger and bitterness directed at YRCW’s mismanagement, as well as the neglect of the freight industry by the Hoffa administration.

Hoffa came into office 12 years ago promising to “restore the power” in freight. The only power restored is what went to his head. Organizing has been slim to none. Strategic planning is nonexistent. He seriously undermined the Central States Pension Fund by letting UPS have their way with a company plan. He failed to bargain UPS Freight either into the contract or the Teamster benefit funds.

Sandy Pope, who is challenging Hoffa for the Teamster presidency released a statement on the vote result: “Teamsters have made a tough choice. We never should have been in this position. James Hoffa has let the power his father built in the freight industry slip away. We have been reduced to approving severe concessions to save companies and jobs. We should be organizing to improve wages and benefits -- not going backwards. With a strategic plan to organize and defend our contracts and pensions, we can get back on the offense and rebuild Teamster power. Our members deserve nothing less.”

Click here for the Local-by-Local breakdown of the YRC and Holland vote.

Click here for the Local-by-Local breakdown of the New Penn vote.

October 27, 2010: YRC Worldwide Inc. will have some breathing room with its lenders, even if the tentative concessions agreement with its union fails to pass later this week.

In a securities filing Tuesday, the Overland Park-based trucking company (Nasdaq: YRCWD) said the recent renewal of a key piece of financing won’t expire immediately if the International Brotherhood of Teamsters votes down a third round of wage and benefit concessions.

Click here to read more at the Kansas City Business Journal.

October 25, 2010: The Obama administration on Monday proposed the first ever fuel efficiency and emissions standards for big tractor trailers and other commercial trucks.

The joint Transportation Department and Environmental Protection Agency initiative covers a range of vehicles from delivery vans to long-haul rigs, and is expected to cut nearly 250 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the lifespans of vehicles produced within the program's first five years.

Click here to read more at Reuters.

October 25, 2010: Overtime lawsuits are increasing nationwide, particularly in some states where truckers who were at first denied overtime pay may find that their employer has violated the overtime law. Historically, truck drivers are generally ineligible for overtime pay under federal wage and hour law, but not so in New Jersey, and perhaps other states will soon follow its example.

According to the US Labor Department about 115 million employees—86 percent of the workforce—are covered by federal overtime rules and these rules apply to both salaried and hourly workers. The proliferation of wage and hour lawsuits filed on behalf of the traditional working class, including truckers, is staggering: Bloomberg Businessweek recently reported that overtime cases have doubled in the federal courts from 2001 to 2006.

Click here to read more at Lawyers and Settlements.

October 22, 2010: Some 400 Reddaway Teamsters in Washington and Oregon are fighting to save their jobs, alongside their local union leaders. But they wonder why the International Union isn't doing more to help them.

Reddaway is the western regional carrier owned by YRC. Some of its terminals are nonunion, and some are under regional white-paper Teamster contracts.

The locals recently reached a tentative agreement with Reddaway, and are prepared to put to the members for a vote.

But YRC top management is apparently blocking the agreement, and International Union officials are not helping the locals. Some top IBT officials want to see Reddaway folded into YRC, with Reddaway Teamsters "endtailed" at the bottom of the YRC seniority list. That would put many of them out of a job, because most Reddaway freight would likely be lost.

It's time for the International Union to be part of the solution to save these Teamster jobs. Isn't that what the whole YRC deal is supposed to be about?

October 20, 2010: YRCW has informed the union of a change of operations to close New Penn, as part of its contingency plan if the concession vote is rejected. New Penn Teamsters, in this proposed change, would be offered only end-tail seniority status at YRC.

Click here to read YRCW's letter.

October 20, 2010: For the third time in less than two years, YRC Worldwide Inc. drivers and dock workers are about to decide the fate of the long-troubled trucking company.

Although workers have begrudgingly accepted cuts two previous times to keep YRC afloat, doubts linger about whether concessions will be accepted a third time, despite indications that they’re needed for YRC to survive.

Click here to read more Kansas City.Com

October 4, 2010: UPS Freight will raise its non-contract rates 5.9 percent Oct. 18, becoming the fourth major less-than-truckload carrier to ask shippers for a general rate increase.

The increase will apply to non-contract LTL rates and minimum and accessorial charges.

Click here to read more at The Journal of Commerce.