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Union, truckers sign early
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February 9, 1998: 1:11 p.m. ET
Under pressure, major freight carriers strike early agreement with Teamsters
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Faced with mounting competition from alternative shippers, the umbrella group representing America's four largest unionized freight carriers reached a five-year agreement with the Teamsters Monday, nearly two months ahead of a March 31 negotiating deadline.
The Motor Freight Carriers Association, a national trade group representing 88,000 unionized truckers who collectively comprise 75 percent of the Teamsters membership, said it expected to release details of the agreement sometime Monday.
The agreement is subject to ratification by four of the six MFCA member companies on whose behalf it was negotiated by Trucking Management, Inc, the MFCA's 35-year-old bargaining arm. Those companies are ABF Freight System Inc., Consolidated Freightways, Roadway Express Inc. and Yellow Freight System, Inc.
Together, the carriers serve nearly 1.4 million customers nationwide, generating about $8.3 billion in annual revenue on 261 million tons of freight shipped.
The agreement comes less than six months after a debilitating strike against United Parcel Service, a freight industry behemoth that handles 12 million parcels daily, paralyzed the shipping industry for 15 days and eroded customer confidence. UPS said it lost $600 million due to the strike, though labor leaders sought to depict the walkout as a major boost to unionized workers everywhere.
Paul Schlesinger, a trucking analyst with Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, said the unions are still struggling to recover.
"There has been a loss of customer confidence and a loss of traffic, and the companies hope they can stop [the loss] and recapture some market share," Schlesinger said.
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