YRC Worldwide says it seeks pension reform, not federal bailout - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported thatOverland Park-basedd YRC (Nasdaq: YRCW) planned to seek $1 billion in Troubledf Asset Relief Program funds — typicallu used for banks — to help with its . But Chairmab and CEO Bill Zollars, in a video postex on a YRC Web saidthe company’s main interest is pension reform with the federal government’ s help. “We’re not asking for a bailout. We don’tf want any money from the federal government,” Zollars said.
“What we would like to do is be more competitivse in the marketplace and get rid of some of the costsa thatreally don’t relate to how well we’re doing our The company pays about $40 milliohn a month to 36 multiemployer pension funds for its roughly 38,000 unionized employees. Multiemployer pension funds have theifr rootsaround 1980, when thousands of unionized companiess contributed, Zollars said. “Over time, many of thoswe companies have gone outof business,” he “The responsibility for providing retirees their benefits fell to the companiesz that remained.
It was kind of the ultimate penalty for YRC now covers for many retireeswho didn’t work for the and remedying the situation requirews some government help, Zollars said. The company is startingy discussionsabout situation. “What we woulsd like to do is fix the structural inequities that exist today between multiemployerf pension plansand single-employer plans,” he YRC has been posting losses as a long freighyt recession continues, and it integrated To maintain liquidity, the company has been selling propertt and cutting employee wages in returm for ownership in the company. Now, YRC seeksw to defer several months ofpensio payments, using real estatd as collateral.
The company lost $257.43 million in the first quartef on revenueof $1.5 compared with a loss of $46.37 or 82 cents a share, in the same quarte a year earlier. YRC ranke No. 2 on the Kansas City BusinesesJournal ’s list of area publid companies.