Debt-laden trucking company Yellow, one of the nation’s largest freight carriers, is trying to stave off a labor action that is sending shipping customers rushing to rival operators, adding to financial woes that are threatening the company’s survival, the Wall Street Journal reported. Some of the U.S.’s largest freight brokers are diverting business from Yellow to other carriers amid fears that goods could get stuck as Yellow unionized workers prepare to strike next week in actions that could push the company toward bankruptcy. The Teamsters union warned that it could strike as soon as Monday after Yellow missed a health care and pension payment deadline that threatened to cut off benefits for some of its 22,000 unionized workers. Yellow CEO Darren Hawkins said that it is natural that some customers would pull business following the threat of a strike. The company filed a request this week in federal court for a temporary restraining order to prevent workers from striking. A hearing is scheduled for Friday. Yellow is the third-largest operator in the less-than-truckload business, in which carriers haul cargo from multiple customers in the same trailer. The company employs 30,000 workers and is trying to streamline its operations and refinance $1.3 billion of debt that comes due next year, including a $700 million federal Covid relief loan. Tensions between the union and Yellow are intensifying as the trucker burns through cash.
