Teamsters, ABF Working in Harmony

FORT SMITH — Keeping harmony with the Teamsters Union is as simple as black and white for ABF Freight System Inc.

All drivers and dock men for the Fort Smith trucking company are unionized, but ABF President David Stubblefield sees more pros than cons in dealing with the Teamsters.

“We have a contract that allows both sides to understand what the rules are in the relationship so there’s not a conflict,” Stubblefield said. “They know what the boundaries are. You get a warning on your first violation, and if you get a second warning in a short amount of time you are subject to termination. If it were a non-union situation, you would have to make a decision on each situation.”

During the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s recent trip to Stubblefield’s office, he was visiting with a retired driver from Las Vegas who was vacationing in Mountain Home. The driver just wanted to drive down to see the company’s relatively new headquarters.

“They are Teamsters, but I have come to appreciate our employees more and more, especially in the last 10 years,” Stubblefield said. “The summertime is our big peak in vacations. When this takes place we have to fill in with a lot of what we call casual employees. Our productivity goes down. Our claims experience goes up. And our transit times get behind. This is with only about 10 to 12 percent on vacation. It shows we’ve got pros out there that know what to do and how to do it.”

Both Stubblefield and Robert Young Jr., Arkansas Best Corp.’s President and CEO, feel that because of the Teamsters, ABF has a low rate of driver turnover.

“The advantage for the truck drivers is we’re paying them well, and that doesn’t upset us,” Young said. “Most of what we have in driver turnover is largely due to death or retirement.”

One of the most common headaches for trucking companies, particularly truckload carriers such as Lowell-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc., is driver turnover. In some cases, that figure exceeds 100 percent.

But ABF’s less-than-truckload union drivers can enjoy more of a home base. While some companies send their drivers from coast to coast and away from home for up to six weeks at a time, the longest an ABF driver is expected to be away from home is usually no more than two nights.

ABF has 309 terminals across the country. A shipment from Little Rock to Los Angeles may require multiple drivers. A driver may take a shipment from Little Rock’s terminal to Oklahoma City, spend the night and return the next day. Meanwhile it’s “Pony Expressed” the rest of the way to its final destination.

“The union works for everybody right now,” said Dan Moore, a trucking analyst with Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. “It’s in AB’s best interest. Unions have good relationship with LTLs.”

ABF’s drivers can make anywhere from $40,000-$70,000 per year with benefits. And there is a seniority list. Drivers can bid on which runs they want.

“We benefit from that stability,” said David Humphrey, the firm’s director of investor relations. “Our average driver is 55 years old, makes good money, coaches a little league team, has a wife and family back home. It’s a totally different situation than the guy that’s on the road six weeks at a time.”

The Teamsters also know the nature of the trucking industry, where hard times for companies mean lean times for some drivers. Stubblefield said the Teamsters understand the phrase, “When the business is soft, you lay off.”

“There have been head-count reductions with the economic situation, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is cognizant of that. They know it has been the first downward turn in years and that some head count reductions are necessary.”

The current contract ABF has with its drivers will last through March 2003, but Young believes a new five-year pact will be signed soon to avoid any last-minute worries.

“We have a contract that allows people to be very productive,” Young said. “We don’t have to do any feather-bedding where drivers go 30 miles and then they go home for the day. All of our truck drivers are paid by the mile. Our city drivers and dock men are paid by the hour. We have an excellent relationship.

“The Teamsters are not patsies. But they’re very good advocates for the employees. The union benefits us in a lot of ways. That’s not to say that at times I don’t want them. But it’s really not a big issue with us.”