News Updates

The Obama administration has agreed to reconsider a rule that allows long-haul truckers to drive for up to 11 hours straight, bowing to safety advocates who say longer hours could lead to greater fatigue and more accidents.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration signed an agreement late Monday with safety and labor groups pledging to revise the rule that became final in the waning days of the Bush administration.

"We believe that starting over and developing a rule that can help save lives is the smart thing to do," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

For 60 years, truckers were allowed to drive a maximum of 10 hours at a time. The Bush administration and the trucking industry wanted to let truckers have an extra hour of driving time. The rule also cut rest and recovery time at the end of a work week from 50 or more hours off duty to as little as 34 hours off-duty.

The transportation agency isn't saying exactly what it will do, but opponents of expanded hours are hopeful a new rule will be closer to the original limits.

"We are pleased that the government has decided to take seriously its responsibility to protect truck drivers and the public from unsafe driving conditions instead of bending to the interests of the trucking industry," said Greg Beck, an attorney for the consumer group Public Citizen.

The FMCSA says it will propose a new rule within the next nine months.

A federal appeals court struck the rule down twice, saying the government did not adequately explain its reasoning for adding the extra hour. But the Bush administration reinstated the rule each time.

Public Citizen, Parents Against Tired Truckers, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters sued to get the rule thrown out.

"We will continue to push for a rule that protects trucks drivers, instead of the greed of the trucking industry," said Teamsters president Jim Hoffa. "Longer hours behind the wheel are dangerous for our members and the driving public."

Clayton Boyce, spokesman for American Trucking Associations, said the number of truck-involved fatalities and injuries on highways has decreased since the new rules took effect.

"It's been shown during that time that the rules as they are constructed are safe," Boyce said.


A representative from the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP) told a key Congressional committee on Thursday that the rules for multiemployer pension funds need to be reformed. The Teamsters Union is one of the lead labor organizations in NCCMP.

The NCCMP has proposed to Congress a legislative proposal that would help strengthen the Central States Pension Fund.

On Thursday, the NCCMP’s Judith Mazo testified before the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. The committee heard recommendations from the private sector on how to deal with pension plans that have been hurt by the global financial crisis.

The message from labor and business officials as well as pension experts was clear: Without additional relief, companies will cut jobs and investments, further weakening the economy.

House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., acknowledged that the impact of the recession on pension funding has been “very severe.”

“Employers are faced with the struggle of making up significant pension plan losses while operating their businesses in a challenging economy,” Rangel said.

Mazo urged the committee to update the law so that the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation would assume the pension obligations for retirees who worked for companies that have gone out of business.

Such a reform would strengthen the Central States Fund as well as Teamster employers who contribute to it.

Teamsters at New Penn will have the opportunity to vote again on the Job Security Plan, and ballots will be mailed on or about Wednesday, August 19, 2009 and will be due back September 9, 2009. Read letter to members.

(Washington, D.C.) – Teamster members who work at the freight companies of YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW)—Yellow, Roadway and Holland—have approved a Job Security Plan that provides economic relief for YRCW as it works to get through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The modifications were ratified by a 58.5 percent to 41.5 percent margin, with 64 percent of members casting ballots. Ballots were mailed to union members on July 17 and counted today.

"Once again Teamster members at YRCW have shown great courage by making extraordinary sacrifices to help this company survive," said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President.

The Job Security Plan provides YRCW with over $1.2 billion of cost savings over the remaining 44 month term of the agreement and greatly enhances YRCW’s financial position. While the wage reduction and pension terminations are effective immediately, they will not remain in effect unless: 1) YRCW and its bank group amend their loan agreements in order to provide the company with sufficient liquidity and flexibility to complete its restructuring and take advantage of the upturn in freight demand anticipated in 2010; and 2) affiliated Teamster Pension Funds approve the "deferral/termination" arrangement.

"Now YRCW, banks and other stakeholders have to step up and do their part to ensure the company’s long-term survival," Hoffa said. "Do the banks want the fate of 35,000 YRCW workers, hundreds of thousands of retirees, and hundreds of thousands of other workers to be their responsibility if they do not significantly rework YRCW’s loan facilities?"

The plan calls for a reduction in gross wages of 15 percent from the full National Master Freight Agreement rates effective Aug. 1, 2009. This includes the 10 percent wage reduction previously ratified by the membership in January 2009.

Additionally, the plan will allow the company to terminate pension fund contributions effective from July 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010. During this time, employees will not earn additional pension accruals or credits. At the same time, they will not lose accrued benefits or credits previously earned during this period.

The plan also provides for the issuance of options for YRCW stock to Teamster members that would lead to employee ownership of an additional 20 percent of the company’s outstanding stock over and above the 15 percent that was negotiated at the end of last year.

"As the economy is just now showing signs of improvement our primary goal is to make sure YRCW’s other stakeholders, primarily the bank lending group led by JP Morgan, SunTrust, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Wells Fargo (Wachovia), Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo--Mitsubishi and US Bank, provide YRCW with the necessary liquidity to withstand this recession and ensure YRCW’s long term financial stability," said Tyson Johnson, Director of the Teamsters National Freight Division. "I commend our YRCW Freight Teamsters for doing everything that has been asked – over $2 billion in wage and pension relief since January. We’ve done our part to preserve members’ jobs and their benefits, now the other stakeholders have to step up to the plate."

The vast majority of YRCW Teamsters, who made up 90 percent of the total vote, work under the National Agreement. A handful of separate "white paper" agreements, representing 10 percent of the total number of voters, rejected the plan. As with past contract ratification rejections, those issues will be dealt with on a local by local basis. For up-to-date results, go to www.teamster.org.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was founded in 1903 and represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.