Strike prompts USF to close Red Star LTL division

NEW YORK — USF Corp. shut down its Red Star division on Sunday after a handful of office workers in Philadelphia demanded union representation, prompting a company-wide strike.

Red Star was a less-than-truckload carrier operating in the U.S. Northeast.

On Friday, 15 office workers at Red Star’s Philadelphia terminal demanded representation from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents 1,500 Red Star drivers and dockworkers. USF said the union told other Red Star employees to strike.

“The unexpected and unilateral job action initiated on Friday by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters had triggered a loss of customers and revenue to a point where Red Star would never be able to recover from the business losses caused by this Teamster job action,” said USF chairman and chief executive officer Richard DiStasio.

He said 20 per cent of Red Star customers took their business elsewhere.

DiStasio promised that USF and its operating companies would work hard to help Red Star customers who are affected by these developments.

USF held a conference call yesterday to discuss the Red Star shutdown. A telephone replay is available. To use the dial-in access, call 1-877-519-4471, PIN number 4817325 after 11:30 am CDT. The telephone replay will be available for seven days. After that time a transcript of the call will be available at http://ir.usfc.com.