From Teamsters492.org administrator, Trey White; an editorial on YRC corporations wish to buy ABF.

As most of you have heard, both YRC and ABF have released statements about a meeting held in March at ABC headquarters about YRC acquiring ABF. ABC told YRC, due to the timing, they were not interested in a deal. You can view these statements by clicking ABF or YRC here. The deal is a “no deal” at this time.

The following statement is to be considered an editorial by Teamsters492.org administrator Trey White, and not necessarily the view of this Local or the IBT:

I do not believe that it is in the best interest of either YRC or ABF for a deal of this nature to happen and it seems absolutely insane that either party would even consider it.

YRC has not made their employees whole in wages nor pension and needs to concentrate their efforts on getting financially healthy, before they consider buying anything. It is an insult to the YRC employees who have sacrificed their pay and pension to help keep YRC in business, only to hear YRC Corp now wants to put them through that nightmare again!

The track record of acquisitions for YRC is horrible.  YRC has not recovered from the Yellow-Roadway merger that happened nearly 10 years ago (December 2003) and the purchase of USF in 2005. They have lost about 50% of their combined revenue since the high of nearly 10 billion in 2006. Now they want to take what little money/leverage they have, to acquire another company? It makes no sense and is absolutely shocking to me.

As a 21 year employee of ABF, the realization that ABC was even entertaining the idea is very disheartening, to say the least. The ABC statement alluding to the “timing” being the problem (not that the idea was insane) was especially hard to read. I am very proud to be a Teamster, and I take enormous pride in my work, not just at this Local, but on the job at ABF as well, in the belief that the better job I do, the more profitable the company will be. In turn, the better able the company will be to pay the great wages and benefits we all have enjoyed in the past, it’s quid pro quo/karma.   

Is it still possible to retire with dignity at ABF?  I don’t believe it would be if YRC and ABF were to get together. In my opinion, this would put the proverbial nail in the Unionized Freight industries coffin; is that the strategy YRC’s Welch spent so much considerable time thinking about?

In my opinion, the two Teamster representatives appointed to the YRC board of directors, Harry J. Wilson (who serves as Chairman and CEO of MAEVA Advisors) and Douglas A. Carty (who serves as Chairman of Switzer-Carty Transportation) need to be removed immediately as they seem to have lost their way if they believe this is a good idea for anyone, and are clearly not operating in the interests of any Teamster. The IBT needs to appoint a real Teamster to this YRC Board, not an industry insider, but a real working Teamster.

My final thoughts are this; whether you work for YRC or ABF, we are all Teamster brothers & sisters along with the other 2300 members of this great Local Union and the 1.4 million Teamsters across North America. Do not let this idea divide what binds us together. We must all make our way though the trials and tribulations of the industries we are in and the best thing we can do to make this Union continue to be possible, is to take pride in our work. No matter what the name of the company, or what uniform we wear, we represent this Union every day when we show up for work and do what is right. That is within our control and helps to maintain our standard of living and to keep Union jobs available for not only us, but the generations to follow. Everything else is just noise.