ABF Freight System Inc., the trucker suing to reverse three rounds of labor union concessions given to YRC Worldwide Inc., says the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union pushed for ABF to buy the struggling YRC earlier this year.
ABF (Nasdaq: ABFS) filed an official grievance and lawsuit in October, claiming that wage cuts and other concessions approved by YRC’s Teamster-represented workers last year and in the fall violate a labor agreement governing drivers and dockworkers nationwide. Overland Park-based YRC (Nasdaq: YRCW) and the Teamsters disagree; a federal judge in Arkansas is scheduled to hear arguments Dec. 16 about whether to dismiss the lawsuit.
On a website ABF uses to discuss the lawsuit, the Fort Smith, Ark., company posted that it had brought up its concerns to the Teamsters’ negotiating arm, the Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee, earlier this year.
ABF said it wanted to negotiate concessions to the national agreement that would affect all truckers as opposed to company-specific deals.
“TNFINC and its representatives responded by pressuring ABF to acquire YRC, indicating that in exchange for committing to an acquisition of YRC, that TNFINC would agree to contract changes which would make such a transaction economically viable,” ABF officials wrote. “When we communicated our reluctance to pursue such a transaction, TNFINC representatives advised that (the Teamsters) would be unwilling to work with us, going forward, after YRC’s deal was ratified by its employees.”
YRC’s union members voted Oct. 30 in favor of extending a 15 percent pay cut for two additional years — to 2015 — and allowing the company to put off contributing to employee pensions until June.
A Teamsters spokesman said he didn’t immediately have a comment about ABF’s claim.
The Teamsters and YRC have pointed out that ABF unsuccessfully attempted to gain labor concessions from its union-represented employees in May, apparently undercutting its argument for a national approach to concessions.
On its website, ABF responded that, “Although earlier this year, ABF was convinced by the (Teamsters) to submit a Job Security Plan to a vote by ABF Teamsters only — as part of ABF’s efforts to settle the legal claims that led to the lawsuit and grievance — ABF’s position is and always has been that concessionary relief must be industry-wide and must be voted on by all (National Master Freight Agreement) Teamsters.”
Read more: ABF: Teamsters union tried to arrange a sale of YRC Worldwide | Kansas City Business Journal
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