AUTO TRANSPORTER AGREES TO CONTRACT TERMS WITH CANADIAN WORKERS

AUTO TRANSPORTER AGREES TO CONTRACT TERMS WITH CANADIAN WORKERS    Allied Holdings Inc., which owns several auto-hauling trucking companies, said its subsidiary Allied Systems (Canada) Co. has negotiated a new three-year contract with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in eastern Canada.
   Allied and Teamsters employees have been operating under a contract that expired Oct. 31. Allied said the new contract, which was ratified by the regional Canadian Teamsters March 23, will expire Oct. 31, 2005. The contract covers drivers, mechanics and yard personnel in Ontario and Quebec, and represents about 70 percent of Allied Holdings employees in Canada.
   The new agreement freezes wages for the first two years and health and welfare contributions by the company during the entire term of the contract. Allied also agreed to increase pension contributions in each year of the agreement and increase wages two percent effective Nov. 1, 2004 and an additional 1 percent May 1, 2005. The benefit will increase costs during the three-year period by about $2 million, Allied said.
   If the Teamsters and the company agree to wage increases in the first two years of a new contract in the United States, Allied’s new agreement in Canada also provides that the wages in each of the first two years will be increased by an amount equivalent to the negotiated U.S. percentage increases. Allied’s current agreement with the U.S. Teamsters expires May 31.
   Fourteen U.S. auto haulers are negotiating a master contract with the Teamsters covering 6,500 truck drivers. Allied Automotive Group, the largest U.S. auto transporter, is trying to negotiate a separate agreement.