The Central New York Business Journal reported that USF Corp. has filed suit against the Teamsters union and three union locals in federal court.

The lawsuit filed in the Northern District of New York in Syracuse says the Teamsters violated federal labor law and breached the no-strike clause of its collective-bargaining agreement. The complaint names Teamsters’ locals 317, 294, 687, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Teamsters struck Red Star on May 21, 2004. USF shut down Red Star two days later. The company subsequently re-entered the Northeastern market in September with its USF Holland unit. USF operates five regional trucking lines and more than 225 terminals.
James A. McCall, special counsel for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, told the Business Journal that both USF subsidiaries are unionized, but Holland’s rules were less restrictive, which provided USF with an incentive to replace Red Star.
For example, USF Holland’s work rules allow drivers to perform dock work, such as unloading the trucks. Red Star’s rules do not allow that, he explains.
The Teamsters filed a lawsuit against USF in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania last year, charging the trucking firm had used the strike as a pretext for a planned shutdown of Red Star. The complaint charges USF failed to give the 60-day notice required by federal law before a shutdown. Individual workers have also filed suit against USF. The lawsuits seek class-action status for workers against USF.
USF’s Red Star unit was once Red Star Express based Auburn in New York’s Finger Lakes district. For years, the company had a large terminal in North Bergen, N.J., which served the New York Metro area. In the years after deregulation, Red Star moved that terminal and its corporate headquarters to Newark, N.J.
Red Star was acquired by USF in 1987.