Estes to Make Major Investment in Transportation Industry Real Estate

Estes announced today that it has entered into real estate contracts with YRC Worldwide subsidiaries YRC Inc., USF Reddaway, Inc., and USF Holland Inc., to buy and simultaneously lease back facilities located throughout the U.S. The total investment could be as much as $122 million. This move gives Estes the ability to grow its investment network of real estate properties.

Estes and YRC have a long-standing history of cooperation in the less-than-truckload (LTL) arena. The YRC logistics business unit uses Estes as a transportation service provider for its clients in the ordinary course of business. "We have also worked with YRC over the years on many real estate transactions that have included the buying, selling and leasing of properties, which is common practice in the LTL industry," said Estes' Director of Real Estate and Economic Development, Angela Maidment. "This is a continuation of that mutually beneficial relationship, and now is a great time for us to make this kind of long-term investment."

UPS FREIGHT TEAMSTER FIGHTS FOR EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT

If anyone knows how bad the Employee Free Choice Act is needed, it’s Fred Hargrove. He’s worked for UPS Freight for more than 20 years and for most of that time he didn’t have a union. Back when UPS Freight was Overnite Transportation, the company fought demands for a union with a vengeance.

However, when UPS purchased Overnight and subsequently negotiated a card-check agreement with the Teamsters Union, all those years of struggle finally paid off.

“My brothers and sisters wanted to be in a union,” Hargove said. “Overnite did everything they could to keep us from organizing, but UPS Freight was the exact opposite. With a card-check agreement and no management standing in our way, we quickly joined the Teamsters in a matter of weeks.”

Hargrove’s remarks were shared at a press conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. Teamsters Local 391 and other labor, religious and community groups held the event to show support for the Employee Free Choice Act. The press conference was held in response to an event put on by a big business and anti-labor coalition that is fighting the pro-worker legislation.

“Let us be clear,” said Jack Cipriani, International Vice President and Local 391 President. “These big business groups that are fighting the Employee Free Choice Act don’t care about workers. All they care about is their ability to line their own pockets. We’re going to keep on sharing the truth about the legislation.”

Since joining the Teamsters, Hargrove and his brothers and sisters at UPS Freight have won a strong national contract.

“Our wages, benefits and work rules are all improved because we could finally join the union,” said Hargrove. “Now I want other workers to have the same opportunity, without having to wait 20 years to do it. The Employee Free Choice Act will provide that opportunity.”

Customers, service come first for YRC logistics

US logistics services provider YRC Logistics, a wholly owned subsidiary of YRC Worldwide Inc, is strengthening its customer service capability while striving for more integration in its China operations as the country continues to be a fast- growing market.

After acquiring a 65 percent stake in Shanghai Jiayu Co Ltd last August in a bid to cash in on the country's huge market potential in road transportation, the company has developed a "complete end-to-end supply chain capability" that is essential for building its global logistics service network, according to Eric Friedlander, managing director of Asia Operations, YRC Logistics.

Jiayu is one of China's largest trucking companies with oLogistics companies scent opportunities amid crisis ver 300 trailers and more than 200 subsidiaries across the country. The acquisition, valued at $44.7 million, allows the company to connect Jiayu's ground transportation business to its freight forwarding business at JHJ International Transportation, a joint venture between YRC and Shanghai-based Jin Jiang International Holdings Co Ltd, and allows both of them to "work together and enter solutions for the same customers", said Friedlander. Full Story........

HOFFA: STOP FALSE ADS ABOUT EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE NOW!

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today said that anti-union commercials running on local television stations are false and should be taken down.

Anti-worker groups funded by big corporations are spreading misinformation about the Employee Free Choice Act, which is expected to be introduced in Congress soon.

A corporate front group called the "Employee Freedom Action Committee" paid for blatantly false television commercials in Arkansas, Nebraska and North Dakota.

"These ads are dishonest and should be taken down now," Hoffa said. "It does not serve the public interest to run commercials that lie about legislation important to working families. These ads are funded by big corporations that don't care about employee freedom, they just care that their employees don't join unions."

The ads state, incorrectly, that the Employee Free Choice Act will force workers to pay union dues. Nebraska, Arkansas and North Dakota are right-to-work states, where it is illegal to deny a job to people who refuse to pay union dues. Nothing in the Employee Free Choice Act changes that.

Television stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission are obliged to act with reasonable care to make sure advertisements are not false and misleading.
The commercials are running in Ft. Smith, Little Rock and Jonesboro, Ark.; Omaha and Lincoln, Neb.; and Fargo and Minot, N.D.