Teamsters Ratify New Master Freight Agreement

Members of the Teamsters union voted to ratify a new five-year contract with several leading less-than-truckload carriers, the labor groups said late Friday.

The National Master Freight Agreement, which governs relations between the Teamsters and the Motor Freight Carriers Association, was first tentatively agreed to in early February. (Click here for related coverage.)

The MFCA is made up of LTL carriers like Roadway Corp., Yellow Corp., Arkansas Best Corp. and US Freightways Corp., though the agreement also covers many smaller LTL companies.

The union said that 84% of its members voted in favor of the new NMFA, the highest margin of passage ever.

Teamster President James Hoffa said that the new agreement “provides significant wage increases, maintains strong health care without premium co-pays, protects strong pensions and other improvements.”

"Going into these negotiations, both sides understood that maintaining customer confidence was vital to maintaining the economic vitality of the companies and job security for their employees," said Timothy P. Lynch, president of the MFCA. "We achieved that goal with an early settlement and now an overwhelming ratification vote."

Lynch said that this new agreement will account for about two-thirds of the companies’ expenses over the life of the contract, Bloomberg reported.

By Sean McNally

I>Staff Reporter

(Click here for the full press release from the Teamsters.)

(Click here for the full press release from the Motor Freight Carriers Association.)