WASHINGTON — The Teamsters Union is requesting that the Senate investigate the unfolding bankruptcy of Yellow Corp. following a Sept. 19, 2023, special Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on corporate manipulation of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
According to a press release from the Teamsters, during the hearing, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) called out Yellow, pointing tothe company’s attempts to expedite liquidation of its assets to evade responsibility for its mismanagement at the expense of workers.
“After a company files for Chapter 11, employees risk losing their livelihoods, health benefits, and pensions through no fault of their own. These are things that workers have worked hard for and have earned,” Klobuchar said in the hearing. “This issue has become relevant to my state because just last month, Yellow Corp., one of the largest LTL carriers in the country, filed for bankruptcy. This bankruptcy jeopardizes the livelihoods and health benefits of many hardworking Minnesotans, including 480 Minnesota Teamsters.”
The Teamsters are demanding a comprehensive investigation, including calling on Sens. Dick Durbin and Bernie Sanders to exclusively hold hearings before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and the HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee to look into the bankruptcy of Yellow.
“More disturbing details of corruption, greed, and graft continue to emerge at Yellow. We call upon Senator Sanders and Durbin to begin hearings,” said Sean M. O’Brien, general president at Teamsters. “Yellow approved millions in executive bonuses in June at the same exact time that they were voluntarily choosing not to pay millions in worker health care and pension benefits. Workers in this country need real protections against corporations who game the system. We need real reform now that puts workers first in this process.”
The timing of Yellow’s bankruptcy filing and the unusual steps taken while controlling the bankruptcy as a debtor-in-possession warrants scrutiny, the press release stated. An expedited liquidation would preclude a potential purchase of Yellow’s assets from any party that may want to re-establish operations, which would benefit the economy, thousands of workers and their communities, and American taxpayers.
“Yellow is trying fast-track liquidation. Meanwhile, more than 22,000 union workers are out of work after sacrificing more than $5 billion over the past 14 years through wage and benefit concessions, a fact the company would prefer to conceal from the American public and the bankruptcy courts,” said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer, Fred Zuckerman. “We haven’t had bankruptcy reform in this country for nearly two decades. We need to take this opportunity to right the wrongs at Yellow and prevent them from happening again.”
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