ABF | Did ABF Leak The YRC Story To Scare Teamsters?

It is a good question and possible. Nobody that I talked to sees this move as a good thing or the right thing.
 
I would say the timing of the release is suspect, just in time for our contract vote. a move straight out of the Washington DC playbook. boys and girls, I hate to say this, but it doesn"t appear anybody, union included, has our best interest at heart. YRC has IBT members on the board, so how did they not know an offer was made ? the only thing we have is each other, vote smart.
 
So if Welch can help Judy get a good deal on wage concessions then Judy will drop the law suit against YRC? 6.5% pay cut here we come.
ABF earned a profit in 2011 with a wage that was 1.85% lower. Why the need to go back 6.5%?
 
The release says that ABF sent the email In a statement e-mailed to DC Velocity, Arkansas Best said YRC expressed an interest in "exploring an acquisition of ABF," which accounts for about 80 percent of Arkansas Best's total business. YRC CEO James L. Welch met March 22 with Arkansas Best President and CEO Judy McReynolds at Arkansas Best's headquarters in Fort Smith, Ark., to discuss a possible business combination. To me this was back in March why release it now, this is a ploy to get this contract done or passed. I was at Yellow before the concessions and left. If I had stayed I would have been on layoff for the last 4 years. I will find me another job before going back.

YRCW attempted to buy ABF | Teamsters for a Democratic Union
 
This is all about timing, Brothers...............and stock manipulation. Which, I believe,...may draw the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The e-mail that was "leaked" to DCVelocity, was received on the day of ABC Corp Quarterly shareholders meeting......not a very legal way of informing your shareholders of a buyer.......and potential profit...( at the expense of the employees....of course...). I believe a timely release of this information should've occurred in ......ohh....say..... March. Ms. McReynolds obviously knew about it then..........would that information have affected our negotiations?
 
And........if ABC divests itself of ABF.....80% of it's revenue stream......what does ABC corp have left? Panther, Albert, Datatronics.....to go from a 2 billion dollar company to a...........oh, say 50 million dollar company,....or thereabouts....sure doesn't mean big future pay and incentive bonuses for the executives that decide to stick around and don't take their stock profits from the sale and run.
 
And........if ABC divests itself of ABF.....80% of it's revenue stream......what does ABC corp have left? Panther, Albert, Datatronics.....to go from a 2 billion dollar company to a...........oh, say 50 million dollar company,....or thereabouts....sure doesn't mean big future pay and incentive bonuses for the executives that decide to stick around and don't take their stock profits from the sale and run.

YRCW wanted everything there would be no ABCorp. Less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier YRC Worldwide Inc. said today it had made a preliminary proposal to acquire Arkansas Best Corp., a deal that ostensibly would include its unionized LTL division, ABF Freight System Inc.; its nonunion expedited transportation business; its truck brokerage operations; and other units. To go from a 2 billion corporation in revenue, to being sold for 400 million, I just don't see it. ABCorp would have been gone in this buyout.

YRC confirms bid to buy Arkansas Best | Teamsters for a Democratic Union
 
It was required by law to disclose that the offer had been made. If the ABF Teamsters vote this contract down, therefore, in an extension situation, we will be without a contract. If YRCW suddenly purchased us, without advanced notice that their had been previous discussions, we could cry foul, and the SEC would block the deal. Some of you guys on here seem to forget that we are dealing with intelligent LAWYERS, (well that may be a stretch), but you get the idea, they are covering all the bases. Now, if we vote it down, we will be without a contract, YRCW purchases us at a bargain when the stock tanks, and we by default get their contract. In this chess match, we are now in CHECK. A NO vote will be CHECKMATE, we put the board away and we go to YRC, a YES vote and we are in STALEMATE, (a tie) we set the board back up with ABF and play another five years. Don't blink, be sure to move your King to the right square!
 
I can add that now Panther is moving more freight that ABF couldn't quite get onto their pups so Panther alone is not what it was before. And U-Pack? No stand alone company there. Cutting ABF freight out of the mix can't happen but I think that has already been realized. One more thing for Welcher to consider is how ABF has found 'profitability' in delivering tread mills upstairs, downstairs or anywhere else they want it.
 
Why is the contract proposal for 5 years? Couldn’t we just go with a 3 year agreement and do this all over again in three years? The economy will be recovering in three years ri…………oh.
 
Why is the contract proposal for 5 years? Couldn’t we just go with a 3 year agreement and do this all over again in three years? The economy will be recovering in three years ri…………oh.
Proverbial nail on the head, Brother. Three years into a 5 year agreement , we may be choking on our lack of buying power, as compared to the rest of the economy............and, of course they'll re-open the contract to re-negotiate our wages......
 
It was required by law to disclose that the offer had been made. If the ABF Teamsters vote this contract down, therefore, in an extension situation, we will be without a contract. If YRCW suddenly purchased us, without advanced notice that their had been previous discussions, we could cry foul, and the SEC would block the deal. Some of you guys on here seem to forget that we are dealing with intelligent LAWYERS, (well that may be a stretch), but you get the idea, they are covering all the bases. Now, if we vote it down, we will be without a contract, YRCW purchases us at a bargain when the stock tanks, and we by default get their contract. In this chess match, we are now in CHECK. A NO vote will be CHECKMATE, we put the board away and we go to YRC, a YES vote and we are in STALEMATE, (a tie) we set the board back up with ABF and play another five years. Don't blink, be sure to move your King to the right square!

Very true....what you said about covering their bases. But something's bothering me..........timely notification with the SEC,......Ms. McReynolds, Mr. Welch,. and possibly Mr. Hoffa.....and a whole host of potential turn-states-witness underlings knew about this in March. .....An e-mail "leak" to a magazine?.....I wouldn't call that a Securities Exchange Commission filing of a valid tender of sale agreement..........On the day....actually late in the evening.....of a shareholders' meeting?.....not to the shareholders, but an e-mail to a magazine?...Someones' covering something....bases or posterior........Fraud is fraud, and should put a legal hold on any potential sale until fully investigated. Maybe they're not so smart as we give them credit for? Maybe they're playing checkers on a chess board?
 
Very true....what you said about covering their bases. But something's bothering me..........timely notification with the SEC,......Ms. McReynolds, Mr. Welch,. and possibly Mr. Hoffa.....and a whole host of potential turn-states-witness underlings knew about this in March. .....An e-mail "leak" to a magazine?.....I wouldn't call that a Securities Exchange Commission filing of a valid tender of sale agreement..........On the day....actually late in the evening.....of a shareholders' meeting?.....not to the shareholders, but an e-mail to a magazine?...Someones' covering something....bases or posterior........Fraud is fraud, and should put a legal hold on any potential sale until fully investigated. Maybe they're not so smart as we give them credit for? Maybe they're playing checkers on a chess board?
What would be a timely SEC filing for such an offer to buy?
 
I believe, Brother, Ms. McReynolds would have to answer to her shareholders on what they thought was a "timely" indication of an offer to buy. Shareholders don't want to wait to make money,....a meeting with shareholders should've been convened as soon as ABF was convinced this was a viable offer, and let the true owners of the company,...the shareholders,... decide on sale, or not , or hold out for better. I believe that if the shareholders are convinced that ABF upper management,...and possibly ABC upper management ,..hid this information for their private enrichment,....secretly selling off their own stock, or something similar, they could be accused of insider trading. That's why I think when an offer is made, the information is made public as soon as possible, to avoid any attempt to manipulate that info behind the scenes. That's the reason you have to file these things with the SEC. This isn't you and I selling a used car to each other. Potentially, millions, if not billions are at stake, and every move made must be made in the open, as it were. To sit on an offer like this,....for a month and a half,.....an eternity on Wall Street,.....opens you up to insider trading charges.
 
In the case of a merger the highest wage contract prevails so if YRC purchased and merged the 2 companies the ABF contract of which we still work YRC employees would then have to be brought up to our rate of course this would all be then sorted out in the courts. BTW Has anyone figured out how & where YRC would get the financing to do this........I can sit down with any homeowner & inquire about purchasing a home it doesn't mean though that I'm getting the mortgage
 
Judy had no intention of selling ABF for 18 dollars a share, this is way to cheap, it is beginning to look like it was a scare tactic for the contract vote. imo
 
You give Judy too much credit, she has no choice in what happens here outside of voting her shares.
 
There are SEC rules for the responsibilities of the Board, the acquiring company and the takeover target in communicating in a timely manner with the public in the case of a tender offer. Any information coming out of corporate is going to go through legal. It is there responsibility to get it right. All of this information is available at the SEC. A lot of things were changed on SEC filings in 2000. As far as insider trading on this information by executives, that is easy to find. Executives have to declare to the SEC when they make purchases or sales of company securities . Check sec.gov for any recent insider trading activity. I doubt you will find any. Also, don't be fooled by any stock that might have been bought for the executives by the company in lieu of salary. The Yellow offer has been denied at this time by ABFS. If Yellow wants to start a hostile takeover they could already be acquiring stock on the open market with borrowed money. ABFS stock has been under heavy accumulation since November. Yellow would not have to declare their ownership to the SEC until they reach 5% ownership. By the time they have to report, they can acquire much more than 5%. I'm sure Yellow would prefer to buy ABFS through a stock deal where they would only have to take on the ABFS debt. You might want to check a 10-K filed with the SEC to see if ABFS has a poison pill process in case of a hostile takeover bid. A caged animal like Yellow will do whatever they have to do to survive.
 
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