Yellow Shutting Down—22,000 Teamsters To Lose Their Jobs
The end of a nearly-100 year old trucking giant will cause 30,000 to be let go.
After years of steady decline, a federal bailout, and months of disagreement with the Teamsters, Yellow Freight is filing for bankruptcy on Monday and shutting down, according to multiple media outlets.
“The company is shutting down its regular operations on July 28, 2023, closing and/or laying off employees at all of its locations, including yours,” the company said in a memo to staff, The New York Times reported.
Yellow has been locked in protracted labor negotiations with International Brotherhood of Teamsters over a new contract that the company has said is essential to its ability to move forward with a restructuring plan.
Layoffs have already begun, according to Fox 4 News in Kansas City.
On Friday, the Teamsters sent a memo to its members working at the company telling to take their personal belongings and tools home in the event the company shut down over the weekend.
Although the shutting down of nearly 100-year old company may be the final chapter of one of the largest unionized trucking companies in the U.S., it has been on the brink several times in the past.
“It would be the biggest collapse in terms of revenue and jobs for the fickle U.S. trucking industry, though customers say disruptions should be limited,” reported the Wall Street Journal on Saturday. “Many shifted their cargoes to rivals in recent weeks, hastening Yellow’s demise.”
“Teamsters have kept this company afloat for more than a decade through billions of dollars in wage, pension and work-rule concessions,” a Teamsters spokesman said. “Yellow couldn’t manage itself, and it wasn’t up to Teamsters to do it for them.”
In the end, there will be more than the 22,000 Teamsters who will be laid off, as the company’s roughly 8,000 sales, managerial and back-office staff will also be out of jobs.