Yellow’s poor management is what drove the company under, not the union. It’s specifically discussed in the article. Loaded up with debt, took on a $700M loan from the Trump admin during COVID (which the DoD stated they disagreed with) [1], still couldn’t manage the business successfully. The union/employees have given up $300 million a year for over 10 years to attempt to preserve the business (from Yellow’s investor materials); that’s over $3 billion in lost wages.

“Welch said the company’s deal-making debt was its undoing. “We were just taking on too much debt and overpaid,” said Welch, whom lenders had brought back in 2011 after an earlier stint at the company. Digesting the debt “has been a slog for 20 years,” the former CEO said.”

Also:

“Yellow’s current finances and prospect of bankruptcy “is probably two decades in the making,” Chan said, pointing to poor management and strategic decisions dating back to the early 2000s. At this point, after each party has bailed them out so many times, there is a limited appetite to do that anymore.”

https://fortune.com/2023/07/29/yellow-trucking-brink-bankrup...

“Retailers and manufacturers are likely to see higher shipping rates if the company folds, he said. Yellow is known for its low shipping rates compared to its rivals.” [My note: another indicator the business was being poorly run]

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/30/1190960948/yellow-trucking-sh...

There are 3.5M truck drivers in the US. The ~22k union drivers will find other work rapidly at other LTL carriers, they’re less than 1% of total trucking labor force. Likely going to get absorbed into Estes, SAIA, or similar top tier carriers desperate for labor.

[1] https://news.stlpublicradio.org/2022-04-27/overland-park-tru...

I find it entertaining when people shoot from the hip with no understanding of the situation.

The teamsters bailed the company out during the 2010s.

This anti-union sentiment is just appalling.

Given their financial struggles for most of the current century and the way the Teamsters bailed them out during the financial crisis, I’m skeptical of any explanation which absolves management of any responsibility. It especially sounds like their quality issues matter more: you might be able to skimp on that in a bull market but when things get tight customers will have few qualms ditching a low-quality service.

How’s the union supposed to bend with the company missed a $530 million payment to the pension?