LTL CARRIERS BETTER POSITIONED TO FRAME 2008 LABOR NEGOTIATIONS

LTL CARRIERS BETTER POSITIONED TO FRAME 2008 LABOR NEGOTIATIONS    Unionized less-than-truckload carriers will have an advantage in labor negotiations in five years because they will be negotiating ahead of United Parcel Service, said James Staley, president of Roadway Corp., at a Bear Stearns investment conference in New York.
   Staley, who led the management team that negotiated the new National Master Freight with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said Yellow Transportation, Arkansas Best Freight, US Freightways and Roadway Express were forced to wait until UPS completed labor negotiations in 2002 before actively engaging the Teamsters.
   Next time “we’ll have the full attention of the Teamsters,” Staley told American Shipper.
   UPS reached a six-year labor agreement covering drivers and package handlers last July. The major LTLs and labor opened talks late last year and reached an agreement in February, several weeks before the contract was due to expire.
   The LTLs five-year deal expires in March 2008, while UPS’ deal expires in July 2008.
   Labor has traditionally been able to get good wage-and-benefit increases from UPS because of its profitability and the extremely competitive LTL environment, transportation and logistics consultant Satish Jindel said in an interview during the conference.
   “For them to go afterward, the expectation goes up. If they go before UPS (negotiators) can truly look at what’s going on in the marketplace as opposed to the huge UPS contract that gets national attention and every LTL drivers knows about,” Jindel said.