Decision Time for ABF Teamsters

From Teamsters492.org administrator, Trey White; an editorial on the ABF Tentative Agreement

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:

May 20th, 2013- As most of you have heard by now, the 2-man committee has endorsed the Tentative Agreement between The Teamsters and ABF. The TA is admittedly not what we had all hoped for, the pay cut is particularly hard to swallow, but I think we all expected there would be some concessions in it.  You can download the Tentative Agreement’s and materials from the IBT here:

ABF National Master Freight Agreement 2013-2018

ABF Western Area Supplement 2013-2018-TA (all 5 sections combined)

Teamsters Defeat ABF Attempted Takeaways

IBT Press Release May 20, 2013

I served on the 2-man committee and I can tell you from talking to the negotiators of this deal face to face, they struggled over the last 6 months with the company over so many issues trying to come up with something both sides could live with. In the end, they honored the results of the member’s most important worry in the survey by keeping the Pension intact.  They came up with what they believe is the best deal possible under the current circumstances we find ourselves in.

I am going to breakdown the 2-man process for you and then get into the pros and cons of voting the contract in and also the pros and cons of turning it down. What I am not going to do is tell you how to vote. What you’re going to read in this editorial are the major facts as I see them with no spin. I am not going to try to cater to the fringes of this discussion, only the rational thought that I believe I bring to the debate. I will also get into the YRC factor that has unfortunately been thrown into this mix, like we need any more complication to this process.

The 2-man committee typically consists of two Union Officials from each local affected by the TA, in the case of Local 492, Trustee and ABF Line Driver Kelvin Holly & myself, Recording Secretary Trey White from the ABF dock/PUD side.  We were both very honored for the opportunity to represent Local 492 but this was a very difficult experience due to the concessionary contract.

The longstanding tradition of holding the release of the TA until after the 2-man committee has adjourned, is a part of the process that many are frustrated with, but the process is there to educate Local officers and answer questions about the changes made before releasing it for public view.

They presented us with many facts about the current situation that ABF finds itself in and the numbers are depressing. Some of the new info presented was the astonishing fact that Old Dominion has recently surpassed ABF in revenue and delivers 75% more shipments daily, also presented was a chart showing ABF as the only top 20 carrier currently losing market share, and tons of other facts in between that support ABF’s claim they are struggling.

They also presented the National Survey results that were sent to ABF members last summer that indicated the ABF member’s number one and number two priorities were no cuts to Pension nor Health & Welfare, which were achieved (wages was #5).

They also took us through all the extreme concessions ABF was fighting for, which the Union pushed back on, like matching (and in some cases) exceeding the cuts YRC currently has. The company was looking for $130 million per year savings but only will get about $35 million from this TA. They also wanted 30% part timers, and a merging of all supplements into one national contract, none of which they got. They had wild unattainable ideas about the pension, health & welfare but the Union knew the members would not stand for and did not give in on.

Ultimately, the 2-man committee needs to let the members decide whether they want to ratify this agreement. For us to decide that you should not be allowed to vote on it, because of something we don’t personally like about it, would infringe on the responsibility bestowed upon us. Every Local Union agreed to send this vote to the members.

Obviously, none of us are happy about the concessions, including the Union negotiators, but it is up to each of us as ABF employees to decide whether we can live with these concessions or not.  We have quite a conundrum here because of the lingering threats of closures or sellouts, etc, but I think we also all have that little voice inside us that says the hell with it! I will admit it’s hard to think rationally with all of this noise.  Let’s break it down so that you can decide for yourself. These are the major Pros and Cons as far as I can see.

Voting it in, Pros: 

• We will still be making more than YRC and most non-union drivers.
• Up to 1$ per year increases in Health, Welfare & Pension which is what the members said was most important to them.

1. Our pension will not be cut, and in the West we will be sitting pretty. We will still have the best retirement in the freight industry, bar none.
2. Our insurance will not be cut and will still be the best in the country. UPS got cut in this area; they will now have to pay annual deductibles for the first time. 

• The work rule changes should help ABF compete better and that might translate into more jobs, more seniority, more bidding opportunities, and hopefully better contracts in the future.
• Hopefully we will be able to keep working for ABF and won’t have to start over.
• The 7% wage cut will begin to erode next year with 2% increases. By  July 1st, we will be down to a 5% wage cut. Our YRC brothers have been at 15% for years and that's on top of the pension cuts they have had to endure.

Voting it in, Cons:

• We are going to lose thousands of dollars in wages over the life of this contract.
• We are losing a week of vacation which doesn’t hurt the pocket book but does cut into the family time.
• ABC may still sell The Company or go under; it only makes it less likely if we vote it in, but doesn’t take it off the table.

Voting it down, Pros:

• We have a chance of getting a better contract.
• We send a message to The Company that we will not settle for less.

Voting it down, Cons:

• We provoke The Company into a rash decision to sell the company, lock us out, or some other misguided move, retaliatory in nature, which could possibly include forcing the Unions hand by refusing to come back to the table.  
• The Company loses customers due to the Fear Factor, loses stock value making it easier for someone to buy us and the whole house of cards comes down.
• They give in on wages but cut somewhere else (like pension or insurance) to compensate. 

When you reflect on all of that, you can really see what a very tough decision we have to make. Each one of you must weigh the pros and cons and decide for yourself. It’s very easy to fall back on the idea that we need to make them go back to the table and get more, which may not happen even if we do vote it down. We must also remember for every action there will be a reaction. We need to deliberate on the possible outcomes of a yes or no vote and then decide if we can live with the ramifications of whichever way we go. The good thing is it is up to us, we are the final deciders. The outcome of all of this is on us now, hopefully we will be able to look back on this in five years and know we made the right decision.  

YRC/ABF Deal:

As promised earlier, I am going to give you my updated take on the whole YRC thing. I put this last because I don’t really want to have this be part of the negotiation discussion but so many of you have been calling me about this, I feel the need to fulfill  those requests, and as deplorable and inopportune as it is, the distressing reality is YRC has weaseled their way into this process.

You have all probably read my first editorial on the subject so you know I am against this YRC-ABF deal, if not you can click here. So let’s move on to the most popular question I am asked about YRC; is this possible?! The unfortunate answer is yes.

My understanding is they could not have made the offer without first showing that they could financially pull this off. The speculation is they could buy the company because the ABF stock was trading well below value at the time of the offer. The good news (for now) is the stock is trading at 3 times the price it was ($6 to $18) when YRC came up with this stupid plan. So hopefully they cannot afford to buy ABF now. The bad news is, if the contract gets voted down, the stock is likely to plummet, and the YRC corporate vultures will be flying overhead to swoop in.

Another popular question is; don’t they know the ABF customers will walk? If they wanted to ship with YRC, they would already be doing so. I agree, but it is not that simple. They would probably retain some customers but definitely not all.

One theory being floated is they don’t really need ABF’s customers or even the ABF employees. ABF only has $133M in debt but has net assets in the range of 1.6 billion. They could buy the assets of the company without taking the employees, sell off terminals and equipment, merging any customers that choose to move to YRC, into the existing YRC network which is nowhere near capacity. As an added bonus, YRC removes one of their main competitors from the market place.  YRC Worldwide has nothing to lose.

The big losers in a deal like this are the employees of both companies, the Union, and the shareholders who will be left holding the bag again when the YRC stooges screw the two companies up and go bankrupt.

I personally spoke with President Hoffa last week in Las Vegas and again today in Chicago about this and told him I felt the two Teamsters representatives on the YRC board of directors needed to be removed, and he agrees. Let’s hope he can make that happen.

We will be putting together a schedule of meetings at the Union Hall for this Tentative Agreement and will be posting it here soon, which will probably happen around the first week of June.

The ballots will be mailed out June 3^rd, and counted on June 27^th.