YRC union agrees to labor deal

In an effort to help Overland Park, Kan.-based trucking firm YRC Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq: YRCW) refinance $1.4 billion in debt and save jobs, teamsters with the company voted by a two-to-one margin to extend wage and benefits concessions.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters agreed to accept the deal with a vote of 12,267 to 6,314, which protects more than 25,000 union workers. The vote offers a pathway to debt reduction as roughly $1.4 billion in debt service is due this year and in 2015.

The deal includes extending a 15 percent wage reduction through 2016, with union members in line to receive raises of roughly 34 cents per hour in April 2016, 2017 and 2018. On Jan. 9, the teamsters rejected a previous proposal. In late 2013, company officials told the union that refinancing its debt hinged upon securing a new labor agreement, according to the Kansas City Business Journal.  

Read more from the Kansas City Business Journal.