24,000 Teamsters-represented drivers ink five-year deal with YRC companies

user-gravatar Headshot

Employees of three major trucking companies ratified a major new five-year contract with the Teamsters.

YRC Worldwide Inc. on Tuesday announced employees of YRC Freight, Holland, and New Penn approved the new master labor agreement. A statement from YRC Worldwide said its unionized drivers voted May 3 to ratify the agreement.

The final supplemental agreement was approved Tuesday, May 14.

Contract highlights include:

  • Wage increases each year beginning April 1, 2019, through 2023.
  • Continuation of existing health and welfare coverage, with predictable employer-contribution rates in each of the five years.
  • Restoration of an additional one-week of vacation for certain employees.
  • Increased ability to utilize purchased transportation for YRC Freight and Holland.
  • Increased use of lower-wage, non-CDL and part-time positions to improve employee availability and permit CDL-qualified drivers additional opportunities to drive
  • Expanded use of smaller equipment, or box trucks, instead of using third-party carriers to deliver freight.
  • Increased ability to utilize available hours of service.
  • A newly structured profit-sharing bonus program for employees.
  • Improved language to curb what the union called “excessive executive bonuses.”
  • Prohibitions against using driverless trucks.

The new agreement, which the company says covers about 24,000 employees, goes into effect immediately, with economic changes retroactive April 1, and running through March 31, 2024.

“The ratification of the contract is good for our employees, our shareholders, and our customers,” said Darren Hawkins, YRC Worldwide’s CEO. “Having a five-year agreement is a very positive event for YRC Worldwide, supporting a more market-competitive wage and benefit package for our employees while providing operational benefits that will allow us to provide reliable and efficient services to our customers.”

“Over the past decade our members have sacrificed so much to keep the YRCW companies operating, and this contract restores the week of vacation and provides [wage increases], among other improvements,” said Ernie Soehl, director of the Teamsters National Freight Division.

YRC Worldwide Inc., headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, is the holding company for several less-than-truckload companies including Holland, New Penn, Reddaway, YRC Freight, and YRC Reimer and the logistics company HNRY Logistics.