Trucking giant Yellow shuts down: The 99-year-old company which has almost 30,000 staff and 12,000 big-rigs ceases operations immediately - despite $700M COVID bailout

Daily Mail ^ | 7/30/23 | Harriet Alexander, Sophie Mann

[Libloather]

Trucking giant Yellow collapsed on Sunday, ceasing operations immediately and leaving some 30,000 workers without jobs.

The closure is the biggest in terms of jobs and revenue in the U.S. trucking industry, according to The Wall Street Journal - which first reported its shutdown.

The company, which received $700 million in federal COVID relief funds in 2020, is preparing to file for bankruptcy and is in talks to sell off all or parts of the business.

The nearly 100-year-old firm is known for its competitive pricing and has more than 12,000 trucks shipping freight across the US for brands including Walmart and Home Depot.

But in recent years it has struggled under the weight of debt and had a highly contentious relationship with the Teamsters union: on Sunday, each side blamed the other.

Hundreds of non-union Yellow employees were laid off Friday from the Nashville, Tennessee, company, and about 22,000 Teamster members were told their jobs hung in the balance.

On Sunday morning, the company sent out notices to customers and employees saying it was ceasing all operations at midday.

Since 2021, the struggling brand has implemented a cost-cutting plan that executives hoped would put the business back on track.

The company's circumstances have become all the more dire as shipping demand across the freight sector declined substantially this year.

Last week, Yellow, which had $5.2 billion in revenue last year, narrowly avoided a driver strike by Teamster union members after failing to make a $50 million payment for employee benefits. The company had a 30-day period to catch up on pension and benefits payments.

The Teamsters blamed the executives for poor management.

'Teamsters have kept this company afloat for more than a decade through billions of dollars in wage, pension and work-rule concessions,' a union spokesman said.

[Aeneas2112]

That is common. Part of being in a union is that you can only strike when the union calls one. That’s part of why companies sign contracts with unions. Going out on strike without union authorization is called a ‘wildcat’ strike, and the idiots who do it can end up with BOTH union thugs and corporate goons after them.

[GaryCrow]

If you got $700 million in free money from the government during Covid and still can’t make a go of it then you’ve got problems bigger than a union. Blaming unions for mismanagement is no different than blaming racism every time some thug gets arrested for murder.

[Scrambler Bob]

Was the carrot of being able to keep the $700M too great to resist?
= = =

Yellow is just 1/2 of yellow/blue Ukraine.

Biden can just kick in 1 Billion. Chicken feed.

[Tupelo]

I think with enough moxie and family support, yes.
Check out this couple on Facebook. Now, they did start-up a couple of years ago, but so far they seem to be doing fine.
They now own 4 tractors, both driving one and employ 2 team drivers for one and will probably be selling the oldest tractor soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmPzPaoLKW8

[Tupelo]

“Would you become an owner/operator in the US today?”

I doubt I could get a CDL at age 81 with CHF.
But yes I think I would. There may be opportunites that show up with Yellow Freight shutting down and I expect in a year or so you will find several successful owner/operators that used their knowledge and contacts in the industry to grab on to some of those trucks & trailers to get their start.

[Moltke]

The German system of apprenticeship training has nothing directly to do with unions.

OTOH, while still lower than pondscum, German unions are not as strike-happy as their French or British counterparts.

That keeps the union pain in check, somewhat.