Bankruptcy for Teamsters?

[Alan Jacobson]

CF was one of the last remaining national less-than-truckload freight
companies. There are now just 3 companies signatory to the National Master
Freight Agreement--Yellow, Roadway Express and ABF. The NMFA was Hoffa
(senior)'s chief accomplishment in the 60s. At its height just prior to
deregulation of the trucking industry in 1980, the NMFA covered 400,000
workers and many other contracts were tied to the terms of the NFMA. The last
NMFA, in 1998, covered around 75,000. It's hard to say how many are covered at
this point. The other unionized carriers will pick up some of CF's business
and some of CF's workforce will be hired. However, there's a lot of non-union
options for less-than-truckload shippers now and a lot of CF's business will
go to them. CF's failure was rooted in poor management. But the utter failure
of Hoffa Junior to organize in the core sectors of the freight industry means
that the failure of this company this is a big blow to the Teamsters and many
members will not be able to find work in the industry.

Alan Jacobson
(Staff, Teamsters for a Democratic Union 1989-2000)