Arkansas Best in the black

Arkansas Best in the black    Arkansas Best Corp. said Tuesday it had second quarter net profit of $5.3 million, compared to a net loss in the same 2010 period.
   Revenue was $498.6 million for the quarter compared to $411.3 million in 2010’s second quarter.
   The company said its return to profitability “was primarily a result of ABF’s healthy tonnage levels combined with an emphasis on increased account pricing.”
   ABF said on July 6 the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s dismissal of a lawsuit ABF filed in November 2010 against the Teamsters and remanded it to the lower court.
   “The lawsuit related to three modifications of the National Master Freight Agreement (NMFA) that were exclusively granted to the YRC subsidiaries in 2009 and 2010,” said ABF, noting that about 76 percent of its employees are covered under the NMFA.
   “ABF believes it is an equal signatory to the NMFA which, as a national collective bargaining agreement, is designed to establish a single national standard for wages and other employment terms for all employer participants. The intent of ABF’s original lawsuit was to level the playing field relative to the cost structures of all parties to the NMFA.”