Ruan Transport Corp. is laying off 144 workers in Tolleson, Arizona, including 130 truck drivers, along with mechanics and administrative staff.
The layoffs will be finalized by the end of August.
Des Moines, Iowa-based Ruan Transport has 2,980 trucks and 3,612 drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The company provides dedicated fleet management, logistics management and warehousing solutions for customers across the country.
Ruan Transport had a contract with Kroger to provide transportation services from the Tolleson distribution center, which is located in the Phoenix area. However, Kroger cancelled that contract, according to the Teamsters union.
The Teamsters represents Ruan Transport workers at the Tolleson distribution center.
“For over 26 years, Teamsters Local 104 members at Ruan have safely and reliably delivered products for Kroger. Now, the company is attempting to replace them with Swift, a move that threatens the hard-won standards Teamsters have built over decades,” Lena Melentijevic, a spokeswoman for the Teamsters, told FreightWaves in an email.
Officials for The Kroger Co. and Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. did not return requests for comment.
Sean M. O’Brien, general president of the Teamsters, and Fred E. Zuckerman, the union’s general-secretary treasurer, sent a letter to Kroger leadership on June 6 seeking clarification on Ruan’s dismissal.
“Our impression is that Kroger intends to replace Ruan with a 3PL that does not provide reasonable equal wages and conditions of employment similar to those provided for in the Teamsters Local Union 104 collective bargaining agreement currently in effect with Ruan,” O’Brien and Zuckerman wrote in a letter to Kroger shared on Facebook.
“If this unfortunate development should occur, Kroger should expect community standards picketing to occur which truthfully advises the public that Ruan’s successor does not conform to the area standards established by Teamsters Local Union 104.”
Related: Mass layoffs continue across freight-related companies in the U.S.
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