Teamsters give YRC more time to restructure

THE Teamsters union has given the US trucking firm YRC Worldwide an extension until mid-March to complete a restructuring plan that includes US$300 million in new investment.

The struggling trucking giant reached a tentative agreement with unions on its restructuring in September, reports London's International Freighting Weekly. YRC said negotiations with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters had addressed the company's competitiveness, re-entry into multi-employer pension funds and progress toward long-term growth.

In 2009, YRC made an operating loss of $899 million, following a $1.4 billion loss in 2008.

Now YRC is offering potential lenders equity in exchange for reducing its debt and is looking to secure $300 million in new financing.

A restructuring plan was negotiated in September and ratified by YRC's 25,000 Teamster members by ballot on 30 October.

"YRC ran out of time in 2010 to complete any of the significant restructuring elements," said Teamsters national freight division director Tyson Johnson. "We pushed the envelope to keep people working to find a solution and thought it in our members' best interests to grant some additional time."

YRC announced in November that it planned to close 30 of its 334 terminals in the US Midwest, south and east because of lower freight volumes.
(Source:www.schednet.com)