Yellow Corp. said Tuesday it has approved Teamsters selection David Webber to serve on its board of directors. As a holder of the company’s series A preferred stock the union is allowed to hold two board seats.
Webber is a law professor at Boston University and an expert in pensions, shareholder activism and litigation, according to a news release. He is the author of the book “The Rise of the Working-Class Shareholder: Labor’s Last Best Weapon.”
Webber will receive an annual cash retainer of $160,000 and is entitled to the equivalent of $100,000 in restricted stock units each year, the same compensation structure as other non-employee directors.
His appointment increases the size of Yellow’s board to 11 directors. He did not appear as a member on any of the board’s committees at the time of the filing.
Douglas Carty, co-founder of Switzer-Carty Transportation, holds the union’s other seat on the board.
In recent weeks, Yellow and the Teamsters have been involved in a heated exchange regarding the less-than-truckload carrier’s proposed change of operations it asserts is integral to its survival. The company seeks to consolidate terminals and redefine some job duties as it struggles to maintain profitability.
Similar operational changes to the Western part of Yellow’s network were accepted by the union last year. However, union leadership rejected the new changes without putting it to a vote by its members, which Yellow believed it would win.
Union heads maintain the proposed change of operations violates supplements in the National Master Freight Agreement and is merely a workaround to the existing agreement. It had previously suggested reopening the contract a year early, which Yellow has formally requested.
“We are pleased to welcome David to the board,” said Yellow Chairman Matt Doheny in a news release. “We look forward to his perspectives from a labor standpoint and we will benefit from his insights as we continue our company-wide modernization to become One Yellow.”
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