NEWS IN BRIEF

Teamster ranks OK

contract with YRC

Teamsters employees at YRC Worldwide voted over the weekend in favor of a new contract with the Kansas-based trucking company.

Ratification will extend the collective-bargaining agreement between the union and YRC through 2019. YRC officials have said they need a new collective-bargaining agreement to help with the payment and refinancing of $1.5 billion in debt.

“This was a very difficult vote for our members, but in the end they did what they believe will give this company the best chance to stay in business and protect their jobs,” Jim Hoffa, Teamsters general president, said in a news release.

Employees rejected a proposal issued earlier this month. The sides worked to find a more favorable agreement, and after local union leaders approved the deal, it was referred to the 19,000 voting members of YRC.

YRC Chief Executive Officer James Welch called the extension a “significant step” for the company.

ABF Freight System Inc., a YRC competitor, agreed to a deal with the Teamsters in October.

• Chris Bahn

Delay bid is denied in Allens’ bankruptcy

FAYETTEVILLE - A judge in the Allens Inc. bankruptcy case denied objections Monday by creditors with claims under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act to some already established deadlines.

A filing in mid-January by Siloam Springs-based Allens’ attorneys raised objections to nearly $19 million in claims made under the commodities act.

Attorney’s representing some of the commoditiesact creditors argued that Allens’ attorneys are making unorthodox objections to some claims and that the schedule didn’t allow them time to prepare a proper response. Allens’ attorneys said the creditors’ attorneys helped set the schedule and deadlines.

Federal Judge Ben Barry said the two groups freely entered into the first timetable and that Allens has made all of its deadlines.

Allens filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October. Court filings show Allens owes its primary lenders $114.36 million and its secondary lenders $65.6 million.

• John Magsam

Arkansas Index falls 3.43; PAM off 6.5%

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 3.43 to 320.76 Monday.

Shares of PAM Transportation Services Inc. fell more than 6.5 percent to close at $18.56 in heavy trading.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.