Teamsters reach tentative agreement with YRC Worldwide

Details of the new deal will not be released until they are reviewed at a two-person meeting, but it will succeed the current agreement set to expire March 31.

   The Teamsters union announced Thursday its negotiators have reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement with less-than-truckload carrier YRC Worldwide.
   If ratified, the new agreement would succeed the current one set to expire on March 31 and would impact about 20,000 workers at YRC Worldwide’s YRC Freight national unit and at regional carriers New Penn and Holland.
   The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee has granted an extension of the current agreement through May 31 to allow the parties to finalize language and supplemental issues and allow the union’s ratification process to take place, the union said.
   The details of the agreement will not be released until after they have been reviewed at a two-person meeting, which will be scheduled soon, the Teamsters said.
   “The parties have worked incredibly hard to reach a new tentative agreement in principle. There were a lot of issues, history and emotions involved with these negotiations,” said Ernie Soehl, national freight director and TNFINC co-chair, in a statement. “We certainly got creative, but I believe we got every penny we could have and that this contract will improve Teamster lives.”
   In a March 15 release, Teamsters said the two sides remained apart in discussions about the long-term wage and benefit package to retain and attract drivers, dockworkers and other employees with the three companies. The union wanted the pool of available money for wages and benefits in the new deal to be expanded after the union helped the company helped it expand its e-commerce and address inefficiencies, Soehl said. 
   The Teamsters union represents more than 24,000 YRC employees, which accounts for about 78 percent of the drivers, freight handlers and other workers, according to The Wall Street Journal. YRC, based in Overland Park, Kan., reported $5.09 billion in revenue and $20.2 million in net income in 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported.