Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

newsworthy

ABF sues YRC, Teamsters over concessions

Carrier says agreement violates national labor pact.

Less-than-truckload carrier ABF Freight System Inc., the largest subsidiary of Arkansas Best Corp., said today it has sued the Teamsters Union, rival YRC Worldwide, and YRC's subsidiaries for violating the current National Master Freight Agreement (NMFA), the collective bargaining agreement covering most of the nation's unionized trucking employees.

In a statement, Fort Smith, Ark.-based ABF argued that the three rounds of concessions the Teamsters have granted to YRC— the most recent being announced on Saturday—run counter to the agreement's basic premise that it should apply equally to all the companies that signed it.


"We need a long-term, industrywide solution that is fair to all NMFA parties," said Wesley Kemp, ABF's president and CEO. "We have the obligation to our employees, to our customers, and to Arkansas Best shareholders to enforce our rights under the NMFA and compete on the same playing field with our industry peers."

In May, Teamsters at ABF declined to ratify a proposed agreement that included labor concessions similar to those agreed to in late 2009 by YRC workers. The dual actions left ABF at a significant cost disadvantage to YRC.

The legal action, filed administratively under the contract and in federal court in Arkansas, seeks $750 million in damages. It contends that the Teamsters and YRC acted illegally by entering into "concessionary side agreements" with YRC to the exclusion of ABF and other companies governed by the NMFA.

"These agreements led to ongoing significant wage and benefit reductions and other economic concessions that were applied only to YRC, and not ABF," ABF said.

Besides the financial damages, ABF has requested the creation of a "grievance review committee" to hear the complaint and resolve the dispute, or to have the contract amendments benefiting only YRC declared null and void by the court.

In a statement, the Teamsters called the suit "frivolous and without merit." YRC had no comment at press time.

The Latest

More Stories

Logistics gives back: February 2025

Here's our monthly roundup of some of the charitable works and donations by companies in the material handling and logistics space.

  • For the sixth consecutive year, dedicated contract carriage and freight management services provider Transervice Logistics Inc. collected books, CDs, DVDs, and magazines for Book Fairies, a nonprofit book donation organization in the New York Tri-State area. Transervice employees broke their own in-house record last year by donating 13 boxes of print and video assets to children in under-resourced communities on Long Island and the five boroughs of New York City.
  • Logistics real estate investment and development firm Dermody Properties has recognized eight community organizations in markets where it operates with its 2024 Annual Thanksgiving Capstone awards. The organizations, which included food banks and disaster relief agencies, received a combined $85,000 in awards ranging from $5,000 to $25,000.
  • Prime Inc. truck driver Dee Sova has donated $5,000 to Harmony House, an organization that provides shelter and support services to domestic violence survivors in Springfield, Missouri. The donation follows Sova's selection as the 2024 recipient of the Trucking Cares Foundation's John Lex Premier Achievement Award, which was accompanied by a $5,000 check to be given in her name to a charity of her choice.
  • Employees of dedicated contract carrier Lily Transportation donated dog food and supplies to a local animal shelter at a holiday event held at the company's Fort Worth, Texas, location. The event, which benefited City of Saginaw (Texas) Animal Services, was coordinated by "Lily Paws," a dedicated committee within Lily Transportation that focuses on improving the lives of shelter dogs nationwide.
  • Freight transportation conglomerate Averitt has continued its support of military service members by participating in the "10,000 for the Troops" card collection program organized by radio station New Country 96.3 KSCS in Dallas/Fort Worth. In 2024, Averitt associates collected and shipped more than 18,000 holiday cards to troops overseas. Contributions included cards from 17 different Averitt facilities, primarily in Texas, along with 4,000 cards from the company's corporate office in Cookeville, Tennessee.

Featured

Catch a thief, stop a vandal

Electric vehicle (EV) sales have seen slow and steady growth, as the vehicles continue to gain converts among consumers and delivery fleet operators alike. But a consistent frustration for drivers has been pulling up to a charging station only to find that the charger has been intentionally broken or disabled.

To address that threat, the EV charging solution provider ChargePoint has launched two products to combat charger vandalism.

Keep ReadingShow less
ATRI releases annual list of nation’s top truck bottlenecks

ATRI releases annual list of nation’s top truck bottlenecks

New Jersey is home to the most congested freight bottleneck in the country for the seventh straight year, according to research from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), released today.

ATRI’s annual list of the Top 100 Truck Bottlenecks aims to highlight the nation’s most congested highways and help local, state, and federal governments target funding to areas most in need of relief. The data show ways to reduce chokepoints, lower emissions, and drive economic growth, according to the researchers.

Keep ReadingShow less

Tech tool "shrinks" opportunities for retail theft

"Shrink" is the retail industry term for the loss of inventory before it can be sold, whether through theft, damage, fraud, or simple book-keeping errors. In the ongoing effort to reduce those losses, Switzerland-based retail tech company Sensormatic Solutions has expanded the scope of its Shrink Analyzer application to shine a light into previously unmonitored parts of brick-and-mortar stores where goods tend to go missing.

The newly enhanced, cloud-based application can now integrate radio-frequency identification (RFID) and electronic product code (EPC) data from overlooked parts of the building, like employee entrances, receiving doors, "buy online, pick up in store" (BOPIS) doors, or other high-risk areas selected by a store. It then integrates that data into Sensormatic's analytics engine to provide insights into when, where, and how shrink occurs to help users strengthen their loss-prevention strategies, the company says.

Keep ReadingShow less

The ongoing war against fraud

A few days before Christmas as I was busy preparing for the holiday, I received a text message from my bank asking if I had attempted to purchase a $244 Amtrak ticket in Orange County, California. Considering that I had the card in my possession and that I lived thousands of miles away from the attempted purchase location, I promptly replied "No." Almost immediately, a second message informed me that my card was locked and to contact my bank.

I'd like to say this was an isolated incident, but in 2024, I had to replace the same card four times. Luckily, it just took a quick trip to my local bank to replace the compromised card, but it was still an unwanted hassle.

Keep ReadingShow less