William B. Cassidy | Dec 06, 2010 10:38AM EST
ABF Freight System's attempt to overturn YRC Worldwide's historic wage-cutting agreements with the Teamsters union is headed to federal court Dec. 16.
U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright will hear arguments on a motion filed by YRC Worldwide subsidiaries YRC, Holland and New Penn to dismiss the case.
The three less-than-truckload carriers requested the hearing from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas in Fort Smith, Ark.
The Teamsters union and Trucking Management Inc., the bargaining unit representing YRC Worldwide companies, also asked the court to dismiss the case.
All documents and lists of witnesses must be submitted to the court by Dec. 13.
In its Nov. 1 lawsuit, ABF alleged the Teamsters, YRC and TMI violated the National Master Freight Agreement by negotiating three contract amendments in 2009 and 2010 that gave YRC substantial wage, pension and benefit concessions.
ABF claims these "side agreements" are illegal under terms of the 2008 contract.
"Our contention is that we have one agreement and neither the Teamsters nor YRC had a right to do side agreements," ABF President and CEO Wesley Kemp said at a press conference last month at the Transcomp/Intermodal Expo meeting.
YRC Worldwide claims ABF is not a participant in the NMFA TMI negotiated on its behalf in 2008, and "lacks standing" to interfere in its labor agreement.
"YRC can find no decision of any court holding that an entity with no interest whatsoever in a labor contract can sue to enforce its terms," the company said.
ABF acknowledges it withdrew from the TMI bargaining group in 2008, but claims the contract it eventually signed makes it a participant in the NMFA.
YRC Worldwide faces a Dec. 31 deadline set by its most recent union agreement to raise $300 million in equity or to agree on a debt-equity swap with its lenders.
The nation's largest trucking operator, which has suffered billions of dollars in losses in recent years, says ABF's lawsuit is an attempt to hinder that effort.
The agreement extends 15 percent wage cuts from 2013 through 2015 and allows YRC to resume pension contributions at 25 percent of its former rate.
ABF claims those union concessions created an unlevel playing field among unionized carriers. Its own attempt to win similar concessions this year failed.
-- Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com.
