Yellow Trucking has ceased its operations, affecting around 30,000 employees as a result.
The company, with nearly a century-old legacy, faced financial difficulties for years, leading to a $700 million US government loan bailout before ultimately filing for bankruptcy.
The Teamsters Union attributed the trucking company’s woes to decades of mismanagement.
In contrast, Yellow Corp alleged that the Teamsters were hindering efforts to modernize the company.
As per FreightWaves, Yellow (NASDAQ: YELL) is the third-largest Less Than Truckload (LTL) company, employing approximately 30,000 workers, with around 22,000 of them being Teamsters members. In 2022, the trucking company recorded an operating revenue of $5.245 billion.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Yellow has $1.3 billion in loans due next year, out of which $729 million are from the government, based on the company’s latest quarterly report. By the end of the first quarter, the company reported a total debt of approximately $1.48 billion, compared to $806 million in assets.
From CNN:
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.
With Yellow out of the game, shipping costs are expected to increase.
Last week, a longtime Yellow truck driver had a meltdown upon receiving news that his pension is in jeopardy.
The driver lashed out at his boss after realizing that his access to benefits and pension might be at risk due to the company’s dire situation.
“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 understandably furious truck driver shouted.
Watch (Warning: Strong language:
