Wolf, Albag went public with his PM first, I see no infraction on the part of Muler for seconding the move.
I know that many, or most, YRC drivers (and retirees) are watching ABF's contract negotiations and are aware of the importance of them to themselves as well as to us at ABF. For the few who think it's a circus act you are sadly mistaken. IF ABF gets what they want it will be a major problem for YRC and probably be the end to their struggle. See, when you have though economic times like these only the strongest survive and they come out of it leaner and meaner. That is quite a feat for ABF as they were already the leanest and meanest in their category while still playing a fair game. For those who don't already know they have already updated their trailer fleet with new equipment, the power fleet is as good as it gets and they are on a hiring spree in anticipation of increased retirements and higher business levels. IF they obtain a portion of their desired concessions the senior drivers who are teetering on retirement will do so. Why would they want to work under a concessionary contract for less than they can get on a pension? And every 6 week vacation man who retires saves the company about $10,000 per year. Ca ching. Then with their savings from the contract they can go out and target more of the premium, best paying freight available. ABF doesn't seem to be greedy and I don't see them going after all the freight they can just to haul freight. I see them going after more of the most profitable freight. Larger payout for least effort, I like that style and I believe ABF does too. BTW ABF has been scrutinizing their freight pretty hard lately and I'd bet that they know exactly where the money is, no need to lose time figuring that out. This in turn will push other companies to 1) push back with lower rates on that freight and 2) lower rates on less profitable freight in an attempt to maintain business levels.
In closing I would like to ask one question: How many carriers really know how much it costs to move a piece of freight in an LTL environment? It's not like it's all on 40"x48" pallets and goes to the roof of the trailer. The long freight hampers the loading of the trailer, the freight that can't be stacked on seems to be more prevalent than the flat, heavy freight that can be stacked on. The ever increasing amount of appointment freight takes up space awaiting delivery and manpower to schedule the delivery. It may not sound like much but one delivery can take multiple calls to finally score an appointment time. Multiply that times the number of appointments and you do have the need for more hours to make the delivery. Then lets toss in the damage claims that freight sustains or causes other freight because it is ugly. And let us not forget about the extra time spent on odd dimensional freight, the need for longer forks and the damage caused to the freight already on the dock when we try to get that big crate out of the trailer. Now combine all of these factors and figure out just how much it costs to move that piece of freight in an LTL environment.
What scum you have turned into.....never would have believed it untill seeing it with my own eyes
