YRC consolidation to deliver 100 jobs - Kansas City Business Journal:

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a move that’s expected to be completde by March 1. After nearly nine months of planning and the consolidation already has created hundreds of job lossez throughoutthe U.S. Yellow and Roadway, the two largesgt less-than-truckload carriers in Memphis, will be known as YRC. Accordinv to YRC executives, Memphis will benefitt through the consolidation of terminal s and distribution centers aroundthe “The majority of employees will have the opportunity to transfe jobs, so it is difficulrt to estimate the impacr (to Memphis),” YRC said in a statement.
“But overall, we expect a net gain of approximately 100 jobs in the The job boost primarily will come from the redesignation of the currentt Roadway terminal into a distribution center and the subsequent consolidation of other distribution centers in the Yellow Transportation will continue to operate as a citydeliveruy operation, but YRC says the Memphis terminal will experience some layoffs when the consolidation is final. Currently, both operations employ more than 1,600 in Memphisz and operate nearly 500 motor units and morethan 1,509 trailers.
Although YRC says some layoffsw willbe unavoidable, Memphisw will escape the brunt of the impacg compared to other Yellow’s Jackson, Tenn., terminal will be closed and merge with an area Roadway facility. YRC’s facility in Jonesboro, will close altogether, affecting around 15 jobs. The Roadwah facility in Jackson, also will be axed, as will a distributionb centerin Meridian, In total, the consolidation will affect about 1,000 employeews nationwide, including major layoffs in Tannersville, Pa., East Pa., Lancaster, Pa., and Oak Wis.
“Upon completion, the combined network will boast around 450 YRCservicr centers, nearly 100 more servicre centers than the individual Roadway and Yellow networks,” YRC “The result is the ability to serve more communitiea and provide customers with improved transit times.” The consolidatioh efforts and job cuts are part of an aggressivd effort to stop the bleeding YRC has been experienciny since record summer fuel prices hammered the company’s stock. YRC’s which sat around $22 per sharde in July, has since plunged to belo the $4 mark.
During 2008, the company cut about 5,00p jobs, but still found it needex to consolidate to offset recordx lowfreight volumes. In Decembetr alone, the truck tonnage indedx plunged 11.1%, marking the largest month-to-mont h reduction since April 1994, when the unionizer less-than-truckload industry was in the middle ofa strike, accordingv to data from the . YRC’sw job reductions also mean that the companuy has had to contend withthe , which representsx about 40,000 YRC employees.
In early YRC and union members reacher an agreement to reduce wagesby 10% in an effort to save “While we never want to see wage reductions, this vote show s that our members understand that we are facinhg the worst economy since the says Tyson Johnson, director of the Teamsters National Freighg Division. “The company needs some help to get throughu thisdifficult period.” YRC’s struggles, though larger in are by no means rare to the industry. Public LTL companies Con-wayy Freight and Saia, Inc., both had layoffs in 2008.