ST. LOUIS – A red light for Yellow Corp. After nearly a century of business in the United States, the freight carrier is shutting down operations amid a standoff with the Teamsters union.
Employees in the St. Louis area—more than 500 people, according to the local Teamsters—hung up their work vests for the last time, after the trucking company that once was a dominant player in the field halted operations on Sunday and will file for bankruptcy, effectively laying off 30,000 employees across the country.
Yellow drivers have tied their vests to the fencing outside the YRC Freight terminal in the Kosciusko neighborhood in south St. Louis.
The Teamsters have been locked in a standoff with Yellow after telling the company it needed to renegotiate its multi-year contract.
Michael Peacock has been driving for Yellow for 15 years, and said he was caught off guard by the news.
“I was an employee here. I was until midnight two days ago. Our boss was told come in and lock the stuff up, and turn off all the power off, send everybody home,” he said.
Peacock said Yellow had been saddled with debt, despite getting $700 million in federal pandemic bailout money.
The Teamsters released the following statement:
“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.”
Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien