Thousands of Yellow employees are threatening to strike in response to missed benefit payments.
Yellow Corporation withheld pension and healthcare payments on July 15th, and plans to withhold them again in August, reported The Wall Street Journal. In response to the $50 million total withholdings, the Teamsters Union says its 22,000 Yellow employees could strike on July 24th.
Company officials say that the pause in payments is necessary “to preserve liquidity” and that they hope to negotiate with the Teamsters as they streamline the company’s operations.
“We are not giving up,” the company said. “We will work with all parties involved to come to a speedy resolution. [Yellow] intends to repay the funds with interest immediately upon securing additional financing and has asked the funds to discuss acceptable terms.”
Yellow Corp. is nearing bankruptcy, and is seeking to refinance $1.2 billion in loans that are due in 2024. This comes after the company received a $700 million pandemic relief payment in 2020.
Yellow currently has plans to consolidate its freight-handling as part of its attempt to avoid bankruptcy, the the Teamsters say the plan violates their current labor contract. The Teamsters are demanding a pay raise and to open negotiations on their current contract before the consolidation and streamlining proceeds.