Teamsters to meet to discuss YRC contract

   Local union officials representing YRC employees will meet Friday in Dallas to discuss the new contract proposals made by YRC.
   YRC officials previously presented new contract items to the Teamsters Freight Division that would be included in a five-year contract extension. The new contract would include no wage cuts, but it would have no increase in 2014, delaying pay raises until 2015.
   The new contract also calls for increasing the overtime pay threshold from eight hours to 40 hours; a change health and welfare rules so that a partial week of work will no longer pay out a full week of benefits; and a change in the outsourcing rules allowing for non-union maintenance and road work.
   According to the website Teamsters for a Democratic Union, YRC chief executive officer James Welch has mailed personal video explanations about the contract changes, on DVD, to union members.
   YRC wants to renegotiate its contract with the union in order to refinance its debt, something the company has said can’t happen with the current union deal, according to the website.
   “YRC management is firm that they need to get an extension with labor cost savings in place soon to be able to refinance their substantial debt in order to lower interest payments and keep the company on track,” it said. “One question that comes up is why can’t YRC negotiate with the banks and the Teamsters simultaneously, so that the banks — who want YRC to keep making payments — could agree to refinance terms at the same time as (International Brotherhood of Teamsters) negotiators agree to submit a contract extension for a vote.”