In the wake of losing two key players, Ford Motor Company and GM, Jack Cooper is shutting down after nearly 100 years of service.
After contract negotiations talks with GM broke down on Friday, the decision was made to begin the process of winding down operations.
When Ford unexpectedly canceled its contract with Jack Cooper in January, the Teamsters’ Union vowed to fight,
Blame Game
Both Jack Cooper and GM have each pointed at the other for the demise.
“For the past several weeks Jack Cooper has negotiated in good faith with General Motors to agree on a continued business relationship,” said Sarah Amico, Jack Cooper’s executive chair. “Jack Cooper and General Motors have been in business together since 1928, and Jack Cooper has proudly won GM’s “Supplier of the Year” award three times in the last fifteen years. Nevertheless, on Thursday, February 6th, Jack Cooper learned that GM instructed its teams to stop providing vehicles to Jack Cooper for hauling.”
According to The Detroit Free Press, GM spokesman Kevin Kelly confirmed the work stoppage.
“We can confirm that Jack Cooper Transport management has informed us of their plans to unilaterally stop services to GM, effective immediately,” Kelly said. “In light of this material breach of their agreement and the ongoing and timely needs of GM’s business, we have no choice but to implement contingency plans with other providers. We do not anticipate any further disruptions to the delivery of our vehicles.”
Going Forward
According to KCTV5 in Kansas City, Mo., Amico commended the faithful employees of Jack Cooper in a letter sent to its workers.
“For nearly a century, Jack Cooper has set the standard in finished vehicle logistics,” Amico said in a letter to employees “We have been proudly Women-Owned, union and family-operated. We have won numerous industry awards, given back to the communities where we live and work, and proudly employed generations of employees across the country. Each of you has been a key part of that legacy, and your work is deeply appreciated.”
Teamsters Statement
“While Jack Cooper may be winding down its operations with Ford and GM, that does not mean the jobs of well-paid, union-protected Teamsters are leaving the industry,” a Teamsters spokesperson told KCTV5. “This is Teamster work.”
According to Teamsters, the work of union members will not end with the closure of Jack Cooper’s doors. Members will follow the work under the national contract, regardless of employer.
“The Teamsters will defend our work and our members in carhaul at all costs. No matter what contractor is working with companies like Ford and GM, Teamsters will ultimately be pulling the vehicles,” a union spokesperson said.
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
God Bless the Teamsters, I work my whole life as a Teamster and made myself a comfortable retirement with JCT. The Riggs family bought JCT and drove it in the ground.
greed of unions catching up high pay is why
Bob, if you want to sell your labor cheap then go ahead. As Bruce said, God Bess the Teamsters
Made a great living with great retirement benefits
Thats right Bob! It’s always those greedy people trying to feed their families and save for retirement harming the corporations with billions of dollars a year in profits. Theres stock buybacks and corporate suite bonuses to pay out ya know!
If you read you may even realise it was a contract negotiation between the carrier and GM, not the union and GM. Don’t let that get in the way though.
The union keeps driving up the cost for deliveries. 50 miles from kc you’re paying over $700 for delivery. What a ripoff
I worked for PMT, a subsidiary of JCT here in California. The only way those teamsters follow the work is if it is hauled by a union carrier. In December of 2008 after GM pulled our contract they awarded the contract to a non union carrier and poof…750 plus drivers unemployed overnight! Good luck fellas i moved over to grocery delivery and just retired so i feel your pain if you dont have time in to hang it up
Yes,Bob,everyone should be working for minimum wage, except you, just like the orange man wants. If we pay less than China we can bring some of that work back. It will help the billionaires.
I’m not so sure that the union workers will follow the traffic, although I hope so. My experience with the original big 3 as a supplier, there is very little loyalty between the manufacturers and their suppliers.
It’s all about cutting costs now days to stay competitive in any business. Shipping is a big cost added to any item. I’m sure independent carriers are A LOT cheaper to use than union 🤔 trucking companies. 🚚 Smart business model imo!!
that delivery rate is set by the government not Jc or auto manufacturers. That’s so people like you can’t get their car delivered for 200.00 when someone across the country cost them 2,000.
glen,
The same destination fee is applied to every vehicle produced regardless of the distance it travels.
Soooo does that mean the enormous “ delivery charge “ that’s applied to new vehicle purchases at the dealership decreasing in kind?? I bet not
Another example of a Union Carrier/Company imploding. There was a day for Unions, maybe back in the 19th Century. Unions in the Dark Ages helped protect workers from Unsafe Work Environments and predatory Employers. Does anyone truly believe this exists today. OSHA ensures some of the safest work environments in the world. Union wages generally far exceed what a typical non-union employee earns for the same work, which is generally considered non-technical minimum wage positions. Unfortunately Union Workers continue to ask what Companies can do for them but never what they can do for their Company. Everyone expects freebies these days. I say this as a prior Union member who was once told to slow down, I was making the other workers look bad. Really?? Showing up for work doesn’t make you a valuable productive employee, its what you do when you get there. Union greed will continue to have work shipped overseas and why we will continue to see the higher cost of everything. If you want to make more, then work for it like everyone else. Make companies valuable to their customers, you may be surprised at the outcome. Quit looking at their profits, that’s why they are in business. Look at your pay check and think if you truly earned it. Maybe thank them for providing you and your family a decent living. I know I sound crazy….. lol
“If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” This famous observation was made by Herb Stein, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. It became famous largely because it was just that, obvious.
Cut and pasted by me.
as a long time anti Union employee turned company owner they are overpaid and expecting too much. company overhead has a break even point. when unions need more and shipping rates are at a setpoint that is competitive in the market and going over that point makes the shipper look elsewhere you have lost a customer. all the union guys standing up for it remember yellow the scum company that screwed it’s members of the pension they stacked for years and in the end lost billions . union guys are a dinosaur in a modern world. always wanting more. in the trucking industry it is an ever evolving thing to stay in it it requires you to continually review what you are doing and make changes. most often the old dinosaur companies are going under because they are top heavy and have yet to restructure when they had a chance and instead did what they always did and now it doesn’t work anymore. good luck with finding new job boys it’s a tough market and it has been for the past few years and don’t expect to see any turn around anytime soon. get ready and be ready or you’ll miss the bus