YRC watching Teamsters union negotiations with UPS & 238,000 union workers

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/180490.html

Posted on Fri, Jul. 06, 2007

YRC watching Teamsters union negotiations with UPS
By RANDOLPH HEASTER
The Kansas City Star

The Teamsters union has begun contract talks with UPS that could affect the direction of future negotiations with YRC Worldwide Inc. and other unionized trucking companies.

Although the current contract with the parcel giant does not expire until the end of July 2008, bargaining has already begun in hopes of obtaining a new agreement early.


Some 50,000 members of the Teamsters union work for Overland Park-based YRC Worldwide Inc. Their labor agreement expires next year.


One issue that UPS has put on the table is pension benefits for the company’s 238,000 union workers. According to recent trade industry reports, UPS is seeking to exit the plan with a lump-sum payment of nearly $4 billion. The company proposes to then form a joint Teamsters-UPS pension plan for future workers.

UPS is the biggest contributor to the Teamsters’ multi-employer Central States pension plan, and YRC is the second-largest.

The UPS-Teamsters talks will be of particular interest to unionized trucking companies like YRC, which have a national contract that also expires next year. If UPS gets an agreement with the union to withdraw from the Central States fund, the trucking companies may also seek such an arrangement.

The Teamsters union has acknowledged receiving such a proposal from UPS and is evaluating it.

FULL story at link.