- Credits
- 537
Some respect each others threads...especially if they do not work there..I have posted things on there too....you do know what a SUPER MOD is on here , do you not?.....KK
Yellow | Are Concessions Funding ABF’s Exit from LTL Trucking?
- Thread starter Freightmaster1
- Start date
I'm well aware. I'm also aware that I can give my respectful opinion within the rules. This is an opinion board. Give and take. Some can only give, don't tolerate taking.
vongrimmenstein
I stand for our flag, & kneel for the fallen
- Credits
- 112
Maybe you are correct. But I wish anyone to come to my company's forum. All the information I can gather, regardless of whom they work for can & does help in my job & any decisions I make, or thoughts about our industry. Like forest said as he sat on the park bench, 'Stupid is as stupid does'. von.
- Credits
- 537
While it is an opinion board, those who give their opinions on here about a company they worked for and then cut and run, seem very hollow to others ......KK
- Credits
- 537
Remember though when Roadway was spun off and left to die there was no longer a way to divert money or customers to the non union Viking and Roadway started making record profits. I still remember the Viking drivers laughing and dancing around telling the Roadway drivers they better come work for them or they would be out of work, right before they almost went belly up before they got the FedEx life line.
Thanks for sharing that. Interesting reading. Now for conspiracy theory: YRC buys ABF. The ruling class kills the company off in a few years and the trucking industry will be union free.Don't rule out this deal from 2 1/2 years ago either...
YRC confirms bid to buy Arkansas Best; source says YRC made a preliminary offer of $18 per share
YRC CEO seems determined to do a deal.
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.
According to a source close to the situation, a preliminary offer of $18 per share was—and may still be—on the table for Arkansas Best.
The source said it was unclear if the proposal was an all-cash deal or a combination of cash and other financing instruments. In less than a week, Arkansas Best's stock has jumped from $10.33 a share in early May to closed at $16.71 per share today, up $1.36. At current share prices, the company's market capitalization stands at slightly more than $394 million.
As of March 31, YRC's liquidity—which includes cash, cash equivalents, and available funds under a $400 million asset-based loan—was $214.8 million, the company said when it released its first-quarter results earlier this week.
The recent surge in Arkansas Best stock coincided with a May 3 announcement that ABF and international leaders of the Teamsters union had agreed on a tentative five-year contract containing an undetermined level of wage and benefit concessions. ABF, which has the highest labor cost structure in the LTL industry, has stressed for months that it needs to bring its labor expenses in alignment with its rivals, many of whom are nonunion, in order to remain competitive.
YRC CEO James L. Welch implied in a statement today that he and YRC will not take no for an answer. „Our board and management believed then and believes now that the combination of Arkansas Best and YRC would be in the best interests of all employees, customers, and shareholders of both companies,” he said.
Fort Smith, Ark. -based Arkansas Best said last night that Welch met with CEO Judy McReynolds on March 22 at Arkansas Best's headquarters to discuss a possible combination. Arkansas Best said in its statement that YRC approached it in late March with an interest in exploring a possible deal only for ABF, which accounts for roughly 80 percent of Arkansas Best's revenue. However, Arkansas Best said it told YRC in early April that ABF had other issues on its plate and that „considering a transaction with YRC was not appropriate at that time.” The companies have not talked since then, according to the statement.
Today's statement from Overland Park, Kan. -based YRC took on a slightly different tenor, seeming to suggest that Arkansas Best was receptive to a transaction. According to the statement, McReynolds discussed the proposal with her company's board of directors, but Arkansas Best declined to enter into talks with YRC because the „timing was not right to consider such a transaction.”
Neither company would comment beyond their respective statements.
LABOR IN LIMELIGHT
Organized labor will play a critical role in determining the future of any YRC-Arkansas Best combination or if a deal has any future at all. Word of the CEO discussions and the possible acquisition by YRC leaked out as ABF and the Teamsters are trying to consummate a new five-year collective bargaining agreement. Labor and management are currently operating under the second of two one-month extensions to the existing five-year contract, which originally expired March 31. The current extension expires May 31.
According to the source, Teamster officials bargaining with ABF were unaware until recently of any high-level discussions over a possible transaction. By the time they were notified, contract talks were at an advanced stage, according to the source. Neither the 7,500-member ABF rank-and-file or officials of Teamster locals representing the workers knew of YRC's interest in their company before news of it appeared last night on DC Velocity's website. A spokesman at Teamsters headquarters in Washington declined comment.
Officials of the various Teamster locals are scheduled to meet the week of May 20 to review the contract proposal. Should the local leaders approve it, they will then need to sell it to a scrappy and independent group of rank-and-file workers. Three years ago, that they rejected a contract offer that called for significant concessions similar to what union workers at YRC granted the company to keep it afloat. The rejection came after Teamster leaders approved the deal.
There are several scenarios in play at this time. The rank-and-file could choose to accept the proposed contract. The two sides could continue talking and the existing contract could be extended again for an agreed-upon time period. Alternatively, operations could continue without a contract, although such a move would be dicey because the union could call a strike without notice on or after June 1.
In the current environment, however, there is another factor to consider: A rejection by the rank-and-file would likely send Arkansas Best's stock falling, which ironically would make it cheaper for a potential suitor to buy the company. It could also make Arkansas Best's board and management more willing to sell because they may see little hope of making a significant change in their labor cost structure.
Arkansas Best said it was „very pleased” with the May 3 agreement. It noted that ABF Teamsters would remain the best paid in the LTL sector. However, the source said the tentative contract didn't deliver the magnitude of concessions that management wanted.
In mid-2009, YRC's rank-and-file agreed to a series of extraordinary concessions calling for 15-percent wage cuts and an 18-month suspension of the company's pension contributions. YRC resumed contributions in 2011, but at levels 75 percent below what it was contributing prior to the 2009 deal. Full pension payments are set to resume in 2015.
The agreements sparked a lawsuit by ABF against the Teamsters and YRC alleging the deals were struck outside of the main collective-bargaining agreement governing the trucking industry, and they should be made null and void. Despite several setbacks, ABF has continued with its suit.
In return for the givebacks, the Teamsters were given the right in 2011 to name two directors to YRC's board. One is Douglas O. Carty, co-founder and chairman of Switzer-Carty Transportation Inc., a Canadian company specializing in school bus transportation services. The other is Harry J. Wilson, a former financier who today is chairman and CEO of Maeva Advisors LLC, a New York-area company that holds itself out as a non-traditional corporate restructuring concern.
http://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/20130509-yrc-confirms-bid-to-buy-arkansas-best/
At least ABF drivers seem to take care of thier equipment. Most YRC drivers are animals and have no respect for anything. Some of those sleeper drivers are the worst in that department. YRC should not invest in new equipment with the amount of disgruntled employees they have.
Last edited:
I think ABF is a fine company. They have delaying the onset of my pension for a month now in the Western Conference. They won't answer the pension board to finalize my retirement. When YRC laid me off in 2009, I worked at ABF for one week. SO.............. anyway, I won't be an orphan if they try to cut my pension in the future. Anyone that retires with YRC being the last contributor will be treated as an orphan. The pension board does not recognize YRC as a union company.
YRCW a ORPHAN company ??? SWEET maybe somebody will adopt us ???? and agree yrc really is not a union company anymore !!!
CRST maybe ?
D
Deleted member 36608
Guest
Poor jimmy g, tell us how much you suffer. Tell us how much you deserve your union pension after you could not possibly find Teamster work in INDY. Tell us how you cut and ran to the coffin haulers.
Please tell us how you are abused.
Last edited by a moderator:
joes bar and grill
TB Legend
- Credits
- 0
Being an orphan you must qualify for some kind of government handout
Bored? That was posted months ago. You must not a life, to have to stalk me..
Please tell us why you feel jimmy g does not deserve his Teamster pension.
I hate to burst your bubble but Orphan Years are Orphan years and treated that way no matter who you worked for last. Lets say you worked for CF for 29 years and ABF for 10 years then retired. You would be an Orphan size cut for the 29 years and take a different cut from the other 10 years that are assigned for ABF. The odd way they are figuring the cuts it would come out about the same within about a few small percentage points. Your over all cut would be about a 48% total cut.
but it is what it is. If by chance you are not retired yet, you may want to wait until after the cuts are in effect. You may have a better chance of getting a smaller cut. 
vongrimmenstein
I stand for our flag, & kneel for the fallen
- Credits
- 112
You might be right. but me, I am gonna get it while there is some to still get. Just saying. von.I hate to burst your bubble but Orphan Years are Orphan years and treated that way no matter who you worked for last. Lets say you worked for CF for 29 years and ABF for 10 years then retired. You would be an Orphan size cut for the 29 years and take a different cut from the other 10 years that are assigned for ABF. The odd way they are figuring the cuts it would come out about the same within about a few small percentage points. Your over all cut would be about a 48% total cut.
I do not blame you one bit. Just thought I would let you know it may be worth your effort to at least check out your options. We are only six months or less from the cuts. I know a winter to deal with. Good Luck.