PROVIDENCE – Approximately 100 local Yellow Corp. truck drivers are now out of a job as the national trucking company declared bankruptcy over the weekend after years of financial struggles and growing debt, marking a significant shift for the U.S. transportation industry and shippers nationwide.
Matthew Taibi, principal officer for International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 251 – which represents the truck drivers – confirmed the layoffs to Providence Business News on Tuesday. Taibi said the impacted truck drivers worked both for Yellow and its subsidiary company, New Penn Motor Express Inc.
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Additionally, Taibi told PBN that Yellow’s trucking terminal on Industrial Drive in Cumberland just off of Diamond Hill Road and New Penn’s terminal on Plainfield Pike in Cranston have also shut down as part of the companywide closures.
The Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which was filed Aug. 6, comes just three years after Yellow received $700 million in COVID-19 pandemic-era loans from the federal government. While a Chapter 11 filing is used to restructure debt while operations continue, Yellow, like other trucking companies in recent years, will liquidate and the U.S. will join other creditors unlikely to recover funds extended to the company.
Yellow fell into severe financial stress after a long stretch of poor management and strategic decisions dating back decades.
On a national level, the Teamsters, Taibi said, has recently filed a lawsuit against Yellow that the company allegedly did not properly file a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice, informing the employees about any potential massive layoffs or closure at Yellow 60 days in advance.
The WARN notice matter is not the only legal fight between the Teamsters and Yellow. Just before the layoffs – approximately 30,000 employees in total were let go by Yellow, including 22,000 union workers – Yellow on June 27 sued the Teamsters for more than $137 million in damages.
Yellow is alleging in federal court that the union “unjustifiably” blocked for more than eight months the company’s plan to “modernize its business, which is necessary to compete against non-union carriers that dominate the LTL business today,” according to a Yellow company statement. In response, the Teamsters denied the lawsuit in its statement, calling it “baseless” and a “blatant attempt to undermine the rights of workers and discredit the Teamsters.”
Taibi also said the union is working with the R.I. Department of Labor and Training to assist the impacted drivers on various services, such as filing for unemployment and other supports. Locally, Taibi said the union is pursuing any issues regarding nonpayments of accrued vacation time and paid time off.
“We’re pursuing all of that, while also in the meantime trying to link members up with employment,” Taibi said. “Also, we have members who are close to retiring, so there are folks connecting with our pension fund. There’s a variety of things going on.”
RIDLT representatives did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
