[allan5oh]

YRC Reimer Closes Edmonton Terminal | Journal of Commerce

"YRC Worldwide's Canadian subsidiary, YRC Reimer, formerly known as Reimer Express, closed its operations in Edmonton, Alberta, after Teamster employees there refused wage and benefit reductions, the Edmonton Sun reports."

YRC Worldwide Nears Key Date On Debt Requirements - WSJ.com

" YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW) faces a key test next week in its battle to steer clear of a bankruptcy-protection filing that may hinge on whether lenders to the U.S. trucking group maintain leniency on its covenants sown over the past year.

Debt-laden YRC must "maintain liquidity equal to or greater than $100 million at all times" beginning Oct. 13, according to a requirement of its lenders. "

....

"Wolfe Research analyst Edward Wolfe estimated the company's cash-burn at "roughly $50 million per month" in a research report published two weeks ago."


Yikes.

[mike3fan]

Originally Posted by allan5oh

closed its operations in Edmonton, Alberta, after Teamster employees there refused wage and benefit reductions

brilliant

[Jay B]

Good thing they have national health care up there now that Jimmy Hoffa ain't paying the doctor bills any longer. Real good health care, too. I hear they usually can schedule a person for life saving surgery less than six months after they are dead.

[RebelDarlin]

The Teamsters and other unions played a big role in improving working conditions and wages. We now have labor laws and OSHA, (among other things) in place, due in part, to union efforts. However I think they have outlived their usefulness. When they 'price' their members out of the market like this (and they've been doing it in the US also), I believe they either have to change focus, or go away.

I DO belong to a union, but in the current economy, I think they need to tread lightly.

[Snowman7]

Its easy to bash the union employees if all you do is read the article. YRC has been in deep trouble for a couple years. They took on too much debt aquiring companies over the years. They gobbled up USF, New Penn, Roadway, and others. They bought some some very succesful companies with credit they cant afford to pay back especially in these hard times. Alot of experts dont think they are going to make it. I dont know about Reimer but here in the states employees at YRC have already agreed to concessions twice in the last year. They make less than union scale. YRC lies to them at every turn and then asks for more money. After the first concession they had another round of layoffs that YRC promised would not happen. YRC quit making contributions to the pension fund earlier this year. Bottom line is they dont have any money. Alot of employees are bitter. Especially the ones who worked for well run companies until Yellow came along and bought the place, then ran it into the ground. They lost 300 million dollars last quarter alone. At that rate most dont think they have enough to make it thru the end of the year. Alot of employees say screw it "I'm not giving you any more money cause you aint gonna make it anyway, If your gonna file bankruptcy then lets get on with it so I can find another job". YRC is the leader in LTL volume and employs over 40,000 so if they go under all their competitors will be swamped with business and will have to hire imediately. Just sayin this issue is very deep and complex and YRC shares alot of blame, they are a classic case of too big too fast, too much debt, too much overlap and too much inefficiency. They need more than just wage concessions to pull out of it. Bankruptcy and closing up shop may be inevitable.

[Snowman7]

There's always two sides to every story. YRC is demanding wage cuts at a Chicago terminal. It has already been rejected once and there is a revote coming up. The Edmonton terminal was actually profitable. Some believe YRC knew that Reimer would reject concessions and used them as leverage to scare Chicago into a yes vote. This is a post from another board I visit written by a Canadian poster.

Nice xxxxx, real nice but the problem is you and the rest of the POS Teamster canada reps trying to please the IBT by not negotiating with the company and just threatening the workers into taking concessions just to please the IBT instead of supporting the members.

For all those out there who aren't familiar with canada, Edmonton is a strange place for this 'shutdown' to happen. It's the gateway to the 'tar sands' and you can get a job driving and for the most part for $5.00 an hour more than at Reimer, the next day.

We suspect that Reimer and the IBT under the guidance of Teamsters Canada know perfectly well of the economic situation in Alberta would result in a NO vote no matter how many times they vote and that they (reimer) have actually gone to the press to make this closure public so that it would ripple through the other terminals and shake those members up for their next coming (as of yet unnanounced but before Nov 14, right xxxx?) vote.

Edmonton has voted twice and turned it down both times the second time under threat of closure. By the way they are entitled to 16 weeks of pay under this situation.

The problem in Canada for YRC & and Teamsters Canada is Reimer is still doing very well and the employees know this.

All of the Canadians have rejected the first round of threats except for Quebec locals where something very strange happened. They were promised to keep certain terminals open if they took a 10% (yes 10,not 15%) rollback. I guess they didn't dot their i's and cross their T's because as soon as the vote was done and the deal signed the company laid off as much as 70% at one terminal, but they did keep the terminal open.

Union members in other locals across the country are fighting the company and the Teamsters to have legitimate negotiations begin but so far silence from the Teamsters Canada. It is the law in Canada to have 'fair negotiations' xxxx so start reading up on that subject.........

Needless to say the Canadian members are fighting because we certainly do not enjoy the renumeration YRC NMFA members do, even after your concessions, in Canada.

Again more lying by YRC and not negotiating fairly. For those would blame the union you should know that the top four LTL companies in terms of revenue are:

YRC-Union
Fedex Freight-non union
Conway Freight-non union
UPS Freight-union

Prior to YRC's concessions all 4 of these companies pay within pennies of each other, roughly $22/hr and .57/cpm.

In addition to those is ABF who is probably 5th or 6th and is under the same union contract as YRC. ABF enjoys a great reputation within the industry and is very profitable.

YRC created their own mess and now everyone including the employees are going to pay for it.

[allan5oh]

As far as Reimers goes... I'm sure all of the employees regret YRC taking them over. Their HQ is actually maybe a 1/4 mile from my house. They were very well respected.... until the YRC takeover. Ever since then it has been hell.

They were unionized for years before the takeover, so they were used to stable well paying employment.

The reality is they have to make concessions, and fast. Essentially the value of their employment is very low to YRC. They must realize that.

Also the fact that the union hasn't even commented about this speaks a ton.

[DaveP]

The Unions will cut off their own nose to spite their face....every time.
I've seen it happen time and time again.

[BigWheels]

I would not be surprised to hear YRC receiving cash infusions from TARP (or some other government program) in the very near future. Remember, the government has its fingers in the automobile industry, the insurance industry, the banking industry...why not the trucking industry?

The majority of unions are aligned closely with the Democratic party. Since the Democrats are in power it stands to reason they will do everything possible to strengthen unions.

Although it certainly appears grim for YRC, I would be very surprised to see them go under.

[Kranky]

Just another case of rank and file employees being asked to foot the bill for corporate mismanagement, while the management that caused the problem laughs all the way to the bank with their multi million dollar salaries & bonuses.

This happens in both union and non union companies all the time, it's just that the union members actually get a chance to vote on the concessions, whereas the non union workers just have the concessions unilaterally imposed on them with no choice.

.