Summary:
- Yellow, a nearly 100-year-old U.S. trucking firm, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
- The bankruptcy filing is attributed to disputes with the Teamsters Union and alleged mismanagement of a $700 million federal loan.
- Yellow plans to repay the loan and accuses the Teamsters of obstructing its efforts to restructure.
- Lawsuits have been filed by workers against Yellow for lack of proper notice before termination.
Shares of U.S. trucking firm Yellow ended down 30 percent on Monday, after the nearly 100-year-old company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, accusing the Teamsters Union of driving it out of business and sparking an angry response from the labor group over the company's financial management. The bankruptcy filing puts about 30,000 workers at risk when the freight industry is already struggling. Yellow, one of the largest U.S. trucking companies, blamed the Teamsters for hastening its demise by opposing a restructuring plan.
The union responded on Monday, accusing the company of mismanaging a $700 million federal loan issued by the administration of former President Donald Trump. Teamsters' general president Sean O'Brien said, quote, yellow's dysfunctional, greedy C-suite failed to take responsibility for squandering all that cash. They still don't. They shamelessly pinned their corporate incompetence on working people. Yellow CEO Darren Hawkins said in a statement late Sunday that Teamsters' leadership was, quote, able to halt our business plan, literally driving our company out of business, despite every effort to work with them. Yellow said on Sunday it intends to fully pay back the $700 million loan the Trump administration gave it to bail out the long-troubled company in 2020 under a health crisis relief program. The bankruptcy filing comes after the Teamsters said late last month that it was notified that the company was ceasing operations.
Meanwhile, some workers filed two lawsuits against Yellow on Monday for failing to give the required 60 days notice before firing them.