NASHVILLE — Yellow Corp. has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT).
The company made the announcement Tuesday, June 27, in a news release.
The complaint alleges that the Teamsters “breached their binding union contract with Yellow, causing more than $137 million in damages by unjustifiably blocking, for over eight months, Yellow’s restructuring plan to modernize its business, which is necessary to compete against non-union carriers that dominate the LTL business today.”
Yellow’s complaint further states that “These modernization efforts, known as One Yellow, are essential to the company’s survival.”
In a news release, the Teamsters Union said it “categorically denies the baseless allegations made by Yellow Corporation in its frivolous lawsuit filed today.”
“Yellow Corp.’s claims of breach of contract by the Teamsters are unfounded and without merit,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “After decades of gross mismanagement, Yellow blew through a $700 million bailout from the federal government, and now it wants workers to foot the bill. For a company that loves to cry poor, Yellow’s executives seem to have no problem paying a team of high-priced lawyers to wage a public relations battle—all in a failed attempt to mask their incompetence.”
The Teamsters say they have “diligently adhered to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) signed with Yellow Corp., fully honoring its contractual commitments and obligations,” the news release states.
“The company is misleading our members and the public. We have a contract with Yellow that expires March 31, 2024, and Teamsters are living up to it. Yellow’s management knows they’ve failed this company and their workforce because they can no longer live up to the terms they once agreed to. This lawsuit is a desperate, last-ditch attempt to save face,” said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman.
The Teamsters went on to say in their news release that the lawsuit by Yellow “is a blatant attempt to undermine the rights of workers and discredit the Teamsters. The Teamsters are fully prepared to defend the union’s position vigorously and utilize all available legal resources to challenge the meritless accusations put forth by Yellow Corp.”
Yellow officials say that “without these crucial reforms, which are standard practice in the industry today, Yellow likely will not survive, 30,000 jobs will be lost, including 22,000 union jobs, and its shareholders, including the federal government, which owns 30.1% of Yellow stock, will be severely damaged.”
In a statement, Yellow Corp.’s management team said the union’s leadership has left them no choice but to sue.
“For many months, we have made good faith efforts to meet with the IBT to propose a path forward that works for all parties, but they refuse even to meet, let alone engage in honest talks,” according to the statement. “We have communicated with all stakeholders in Washington, D.C., including the Biden administration, to apprise it of the imminent loss of tens of thousands of jobs, the significant anti-competitive effects on the American economy and the devastating impact to the supply chain, and to seek their assistance in persuading the IBT to negotiate a mutually acceptable agreement. We are fighting for the livelihood of our 30,000 employees who are good hard-working people. We will do all we can to save these American jobs and to protect our shareholders, including the American taxpayer.”
The complaint also alleges that O’Brien “orchestrated these breaches and has prevented Yellow from meeting with IBT leadership. For several years, the IBT had endorsed the company’s modernization effort and, in fact, approved the first of the effort’s three phases before the IBT reversed itself taking, in Mr. O’Brien’s words, a ‘militant approach’ to blocking Yellow’s modernization.”
Yellow executives say completion of One Yellow in 2023 “is critical to Yellow’s ability to survive, particularly given that Yellow faces, among other things, the imminent need to refinance $1.3 billion in debt — a $567.4 million term loan maturing on June 30, 2024, and a $729.4 million U.S. Treasury loan maturing on September 30, 2024. Nonetheless, as alleged, the Union has blocked Yellow’s completion of One Yellow, triggering grave uncertainty for employees, investors and customers, and has knowingly intended to cause Yellow’s economic ruin.”
Yellow executives claim O’Brien “has taken up the role of public agitator for the company’s demise, recently tweeting an image of a headstone in a cemetery with ‘Yellow’ on it.”
Yellow’s statement further said that O’Brien “has continued to hide behind numerous false, unconstructive, and irresponsible social media posts maligning the company, while refusing to discuss a path forward with the company itself.”
Yellow officials contend they wouldn’t have had to file suit if Teamsters officials had agreed to “negotiate in good faith.”
“Yellow must now take immediate steps to try to save itself,” according to the Yellow statement. “Yellow is entitled to $137.3 million (and counting) for the injury the Union has caused Yellow, and continues to cause Yellow, and in the event of its demise, at least $1.5 billion for the loss in enterprise value Yellow is sustaining as a result of the union’s breaches.”
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
yellow has lied to their employees and have cheated them. yellow needs to own up to their lies. they also need to pay the pension for the past 13 years past and present employees. teamsters need to stand strong. yellow goes out they go out. employees have known this.
As a former employee I saw this coming. After having to give back wages to yellow on a weekly basis per contract this was eventually going to happen. I left because paying union dues and paying back wages to give yelllow the opportunity to survive. They took a million dollars and paved a parking lot in Joliet instead of giving money back to the workers, I saw the writing on the wall. Now they want to blame the union for their screw up. The union and YRC screwed the workers when they agreed to give back wages that the workers rightfully earned. I think that all workers now and past need to file a class action lawsuit against YRC and the union for unfair contract agreements. Maybe the workers can get their wages back that were given to YRC to survive.
yellow has been poor mouthing for too long. cutting wages then turn around and they get million dollar bonuses. destroying good companies like Roadway Holland ect. Screw them
My Question to yellow CEO / president and yellow management is if your so smart how the hell did you get all this debt ? Second question how much did yellow management give back in there wages ? Did yellow president give back in his wages ? Maybe it’s time Yellow president and management give back if the care about keeping this once industry leading LTL carrier keep its doors open.
The biggest stress relief of my life was the day I left this company back in 2014 after 5 years of give backs wages and pensions this has been going on since 2009 and they still cry poor. it’s completely mismanaged if they would actually follow the contract like they are supposed to and honor seniority like they should there wouldn’t be a backlash From the Union or employees. all everyone wants is fair equality across the board and yellow doesn’t seem to comprehend this concept. I’m sorry that 30000 people might lose their jobs but believe me the freight will disperse and these driver’s will find other work maybe it’s time the yellow mother ship crashes. enough is enough.
For the people that don’t know. we the union workers have been losing 15% of every dollar we make. which is over $10.000 in one year. we work 5 days get payed for 4. Plus all the overtime.That adds up billions of dollars from all the union works.Lets not forget they used to pay little over $100 into our pension which they took 75% of that.This has been going on for over 13yrs.They have broken there Promise to pay it back to us. lets break that down if you work 25yrs you probably get little over $600 a year when you retire. We should be the ones asking the courts help us get our money back that was taken for us.
The only good thing to come out of this is 22k teamsters jobs will evaporate..let old flat face pay their bills as other transportation companies won’t hire union..
Every one complains and keep asking for stuff, but lack work ethics, this is a business, wich mean you have to produce to profit. The union protects lazy workers that dont produce squat, so this happens. People think yellow poops money, no ive seen employees steal time do zero work and than complain about the boat sinking.