Proposal: Up to 32 drivers could lose jobs at Cape Girardeau ABF Freight System

Up to 32 union drivers could lose their jobs at the Cape Girardeau ABF Freight System service center if a proposal by the trucking company is approved.

Citing a decision to realign operations because of a declining freight volume, company spokesman Danny Loe said the proposed change in operations will go before the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters May 13 in Las Vegas. If the proposal is voted down, no layoffs will occur, Loe said. He declined to speculate on what the company would do in that case. If approved, Cape Girardeau would be one of several service centers where drivers would be eliminated, including Erie, Pa., Springfield, Ill., Fletcher, N.C. and Jackson, Tenn.

Loe said the office clerk, branch manager and drivers who transport goods within the city would remain at the Cape Girardeau location. The 10 drivers with the most seniority of the 32 -- all whom are affiliated with Teamsters Local 600 of St. Louis -- who could be laid off would have an opportunity to transfer to the company's Memphis, Tenn., location. Most of its drivers in Cape Girardeau transport shipments primarily to the company's headquarters in Little Rock, Ark.

"This is an effort by our company of realigning more than consolidating," Loe said. "By changing those relay points to different areas it allows us to provide better transit times to our customers at a lower cost."

The company reported a first-quarter loss of $18.2 million compared to a gain of $8.5 million during the first quarter of 2008. ABF also saw a 22.9 percent decrease in first-quarter 2009 revenue with $339.7 million, compared to $447.5 million in the same time period a year ago.

The recession has severely affected every industry, ABF senior director of industrial relations Michael S. Scalzo wrote in the proposal to union officials. "The survivors of this can readily be recognized as they are the entities that are implementing, or at least planning, changes to their operations so that it is not 'business as usual.'

"While revenues continue to plummet, operating costs must be reduced without sacrificing the end product," Scalzo said.

Since the end of 2008 the company has reduced its work force by 625 employees and downsized its fleet,

ABF handles 17,000 shipments daily from 280 service centers, according to the company website. Almost 10,000 people are employed by the company.

The total numbers of tons shipped per day during the first quarter was 10,859, a 15.7 percent decline from the 12,884 tons in the first quarter of 2008.

The news comes at a time when the trucking industry is struggling. Longtime trucking company Elfrink Transportation suddenly closed Dec. 17 because of financial troubles. The carrier had been in Cape Girardeau since 1994. Some of its employees were hired at CRH Transportation in St. Louis.

bblackwell@semissourian.com

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