FORT SMITH — ABF Freight System Inc. of Fort Smith and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters plan to begin negotiating Dec. 18 for a new collectivebargaining agreement that will be unique to the company, according to a joint news release Wednesday.
The current agreement, known as the National Master Freight Agreement, governs relations between many trucking companies and the union. Its coverage includes about 7,800 ABF Teamster employees, including drivers, dockworkers, mechanics and clerical personnel. The agreement expires at midnight March 31.
ABF, the main subsidiary of Arkansas Best Corp., said in August that it would withdraw from the National Master Freight Agreement and requested that the Teamsters bargain with ABF for a separate agreement.
ABF will hold the talks with the union’s negotiating arm, the Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee, according to Wednesday’s release.
“We look forward to work- ing together with [the negotiating committee] to create an agreement for our future that allows ABF to be more competitive,” Roy Slagle, president and chief executive officer of ABF, said in the release.
The trucking company lost a long legal battle against the Teamsters in August.
U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright of the Western District of Arkansas dismissed — for the second time — a lawsuit filed by the freight company seeking damages. The suit claimed union concessions gave ABF’s main unionized competitor, YRC Worldwide Inc., an unfair competitive advantage. The lawsuit estimated the benefit to YRC, which had filed bankruptcy, at $600 million a year in pay cuts to hourly workers and postponed pension contributions.
Wright said ABF failed to state facts that would allow the court to appoint a tribunal to hear the grievance.
On Sept. 6, Arkansas Best Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Judy McReynolds said at the 2012 RBC Capital Markets Global Industrials Conference in Las Vegas that the company expected a 0.5 percent decrease in revenue for the third quarter, along with a 2 percent decrease in the volume of the goods the company transports each day.
Arkansas Best shares closed Wednesday at $8.15, unchanged from Tuesday. During the past year, the stock has traded between $22.79 and $7.32.
Business, Pages 25 on 10/11/2012