Trucking Firm That Got $700 Million U.S. Bailout Declares Bankruptcy
New York TimesJul 26, 2023
The Facts
On Sunday, trucking company Yellow formally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after ceasing all operations last month. The company had informed the Teamsters Union of its intention to file for bankruptcy last month.
The 99-year-old firm plans to lay off all of its 30K workers, and has been locked in a dispute with the Teamsters Union that represents 22K of those employees over pension and health insurance contributions. Last month, the company stopped picking up freight from customers.
The Spin
Right narrative
The collapse of a vital player in America's trucking world came at the hands of an unreasonable union making unrealistic demands. The company has long needed to restructure its inefficient operations but was stymied at every step of the way by the Teamsters, with the threat of a strike driving away customers. Amid an industry-wide downturn, the union has shot itself in the foot by forcing tens of thousands out of the job with their pension and benefit demands, without realizing that everyone in the trucking world is struggling.
Left narrative
Instead of pointing the finger at the unions looking out for the workers, we should be looking at the profound mismanagement that has gripped Yellow for years. Not even a nearly billion-dollar handout from the government could stave off their collapse, which Congress says should never have been given to the company in the first place. Once again, a company that rode high on the taxpayer's dime is now crying poverty when the time comes to properly compensate workers.
