Major UPS rival announces at least 8,000 job losses as 100-year-old company threatens to declare bankruptcy

ONE of the oldest trucking companies in the US is laying off thousands of employees and heading for bankruptcy.

Yellow, which has been in existence for nearly a century, announced on Friday in a memo obtained by Freight Waves that it would lay off 8,000 of its non-union employees.

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On Friday, the memo explained the situation to its former employees.

“We regret to inform you that your employment with Yellow Corporation or any of its subsidiaries will be terminated on or within 14 days of July 28, 2023. The Company will cease regular operations on July 28, 2023 and will be closing or laying off employees at all of its locations, including yours.”

Those who are unionized have been warned by Teamsters National Freight head John Murphy to pick up their belongings at the offices, fearing the current facilities may become inaccessible to them in the future.

The company has managed to raise $1.5 billion in debt, of which $729.2 million is owed to the federal government under a CARES Act-enabled loan.

“Unfortunately, despite more than a decade of concessions totaling billions of dollars made by Teamster members to the company and a massive government bailout, Yellow is finally succumbing to its enormous debt burden in 2020,” the statement said.

John Murphy, the director of Teamsters National Freight, warned the 20,000 employees that Yellow’s chances of survival are getting bleak.

“All Yellow employees should prepare for the worst, in our opinion, as Yellow appears to be facing a full shutdown in the next few days,” Murphy said.

The Wall Street Journal announced that the trucking company is currently preparing to file for bankruptcy.

Satish Jindel, president of transportation and logistics company SJ Consulting, told the Associated Press that bankruptcy would mean “the end of Yellow” because of the risk of liquidation.

The company has seen a massive drop in shipments over the past year. In 2022 they were still sending 49,000 shipments per day, now it is only 15,000 shipments per day.

It was founded in 1929 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.

The US Sun has reached out to a spokesman for Yellow about the recent layoffs.