Press Releases Are Good. Facts Are Better. YRC Soldiers On.

Implications

YRC Worldwide, the nation's largest trucking company by revenue, issued a press release saying it has reached a tentative agreement with the Teamsters union over more concessions made by its 55,000 rank-and-file Teamsters. Exact details are not known, and were not disclosed. They are likely to include an additional 5 percent wage cut in addition to the 10 percent wage giveback the union agreed to back in April.

Analysis

Fighting financial wars on several fronts, beleaguered U.S. trucking giant YRC Worldwide says it has reached a tentative agreement with the Teamsters union regarding more concessions by rank-and-file workers aimed at keeping the $7 billion LTL company afloat.

Exact details were not released. It is believed the Teamsters agreed to an additional 5 percent wage giveback to go along with the 10 percent cut agreed to in April. That earlier cut was estimated to save the company as much as $250 million annual. So an additional 5 percent shave might save the company $100 to $125 million.

"The press release says nothing new," wrote David G. Ross, a respected analyst who tracks YRC Worldwide for Stifel Nicolaus, Baltimore.

Ross has been on top of this company. He estimates that YRC National (the old Roadway and Yellow networks) has suffered year-over-year freight volume tonnage losses of up to 40 percent. Its regional carriers (the only Holland and New Penn companies) are off more than 20 percent. Full Story......