By the way, do you think ABF executives don't feel the same way as Pierson? Check out what they said a couple of years ago.
TOUGH TALK ON WAGES
Arkansas Best and ABF executives have been very vocal about the need to drive down labor expenses through a new contract. ABF has the highest labor costs in the LTL sector, and management said its workers would still be the best paid after the agreement takes effect.
It is widely believed that ABF has been unable to bid on new business or has been forced to shed existing business because it cannot overcome its labor cost disadvantage. Most of the LTL industry is nonunion, and ABF's costs are significantly higher than those of its nonunion rivals.
The company has played public hardball over the issue. In December, it warned of "extensive changes" to its network, which could include the shuttering of terminals and distribution centers, if it couldn't reduce labor costs and increase flexibility through a new labor agreement. It also used the specter of YRC buy-out talks as leverage, saying in an e-mail communiqué earlier this year that failure to ratify an agreement could weaken ABF and make it easier for YRC to consummate its buy-out plans.
In the e-mail, executives told union workers that "if you vote yes and ratify the agreement... then ABF can continue on with our own plan to improve profitability, take back market share, [and] grow and protect your jobs and retirement benefits." By contrast, a contract rejection means the "likelihood that YRC would be able to consummate a deal grows higher," the document said. The date of the communiqué was unknown.
http://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/20130628-teamsters-ratify-five-year-national-agreement-with-abf/