The Teamsters Union was served legal notice today that Yellow Corp. is ceasing operations and filing for bankruptcy.
“Today’s news is unfortunate but not surprising. Yellow has historically proven that it could not manage itself despite billions of dollars in worker concessions and hundreds of millions in bailout funding from the federal government. This is a sad day for workers and the American freight industry,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien.
The Teamsters are committed to ensuring members are protected and notified with all the latest information. The International is putting infrastructure in place to help affected members get the assistance they need to find good union jobs throughout freight and other industries.
The situation is developing. Additional details are forthcoming.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.2 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information.
Yellow Trucking shut down its operations and put out its nearly 30,000 employees.
After years of financial struggles and a $700 million US government loan bailout, the nearly century-old company has shut down its operations and filed bankruptcy.
The Teamsters Union blamed decades of mismanagement for the trucking company’s problems.
Yellow Corp claimed the Teamsters were blocking plans to modernize the company.
According to FreightWaves: “Yellow (NASDAQ: YELL) is the third-largest LTL company and employs some 30,000 workers, including around 22,000 Teamsters members. The trucking company had an operating revenue of $5.245 billion in 2022.”
The Wall Street Journal reported: “Of the $1.3 billion in loans the company has coming due next year, $729 million are from the government, according to Yellow’s latest quarterly report. The company reported about $1.48 billion in total debt at the end of the first quarter against $806 million in assets.”
CNN reported:
Yellow Corp., a 99-year-old trucking company that was once a dominant player in its field, halted operations Sunday and will lay off all 30,000 of its workers.
The unionized company has been in a battle with the Teamsters union, which represents about 22,000 drivers and dock workers at the company. Just a week ago the union canceled a threatened strike that had been prompted by the company failing to contribute to its pension and health insurance plans. The union granted the company an extra month to make the required payments.
But by midweek last week, the company had stopped picking up freight from its customers and was making deliveries only of freight already in its system, according to both the union and Satish Jindel, a trucking industry consultant.
While the union agreed not to go on strike against Yellow, it could not reach an agreement on a new contract with the trucking company, according to a memo sent to local unions Thursday by the Teamsters’ negotiating committee. The union said early Monday that it had been notified of the shutdown.
Shipping costs are going to rise now that Yellow is out of the game.
So THAT’s what happened to #Yellow $YELL… “Trucking company… shuts down operations, files for #bankruptcy…” #POWERLunch #CNBC pic.twitter.com/JShMCXssM5
— Jimmy Slamat (@jslamat) July 31, 2023
Last week a longtime Yellow truck driver lost it after being told his pension is in jeopardy. One Yellow truck driver went off on his boss after learning he may not have access to his benefits and pension as the company teeters.
“It’s the motherf*ckers up there, I worked my ass for this company. This is my money y’all are playing with. F*ck this sh*t,” the disgruntled truck driver shouted at a warehouse in Florida.