Yellow, the third-largest less-than-truckload company that’s in the midst of financial chaos, said in a memo to laid-off, nonunion employees viewed by FreightWaves that the company is “shutting down regular operations” on Friday.
All locations will be closed and/or lay off some number of employees. As the memo stated:
“We regret to inform you that your employment with Yellow Corporation, or one of its subsidiaries, (collectively referred to as the ‘Company’) will permanently terminate on July 28, 2023, or within 14 days after (the ‘Separation Date’). The Company is shutting down its regular operations on July 28, 2023, closing and/or laying off employees at all of its locations, including yours (the ‘Shut Down’).”
The company on Friday morning laid off an unknown number of office employees, most of which were nonunion. It said in a memo to the laid-off employees that it was unable to alert them previously of this closing of business “because the Shut Down was not reasonably foreseeable.”
John Murphy, who is the Teamsters National Freight director, advised union employees to collect their belongings from all offices and terminals, in the case that Yellow shutters in the coming days and facilities are not accessible.
Murphy noted Teamsters is continuing to look for financing solutions for Yellow. However, he wrote, “the likelihood that Yellow will survive is increasingly bleak. Yellow continues to clear its system, and it appears to be laying off personnel and closing entire terminals across the country. All Yellow employees should, in our opinion, prepare for the worst, as Yellow appears to be headed to a complete shutdown within the next few days.”
Employees were notified of the layoffs on Friday morning in voice-only calls. At least three executives laid off large portions of their teams:
- Yellow Chief Information Officer Annlea Rumfola informed her team of some 300 technology employees that Friday was their last day, according to an employee on the call.
- Steve Selvig, vice president of customer care at Yellow, informed an unknown number of customer service employees that Friday was their last day, according to an employee on the call and a local news publication.
- Yellow Chief Commercial Officer Jason Bergman invited the following teams to a call that said Friday was their last day: local sales divisions 1, 2 and 4; all inside sales; multiple regions of corporate sales; exhibit operations managers; and Yellow third-party logistics sales. This came from two employees on the call. FreightWaves reviewed screenshots of emails sent before and a recording of the call. A Yellow representative told FreightWaves after publication that not all teams invited were laid off.
These layoffs come ahead of a potential Yellow bankruptcy filing. A senior vice president said Yellow is expected to file for bankruptcy on Monday, according to three employees who attended an internal call in which the executive shared this news.
Terminated employees were instructed to receive information regarding their severance pay, health care, W-2s, and other key documents through an Oracle platform, as their access to company systems will be terminated on Friday. According to a memo distributed to terminated employees viewed by FreightWaves, severance for nonunion workers depends on title and length of tenure at the company:
It’s unclear why the Yellow third-party logistics sales team was invited to the layoff call, as the company is actively seeking to sell its logistics arm. A Yellow representative said in an emailed statement after the story was published that the Yellow Logistics organization has remained intact, including the Yellow Logistics salesforce.
A Yellow representative said in an emailed statement to FreightWaves after the story was published that customers can contact Yellow’s support line at 800-610-6500 or customer.care@myyellow.com.
“Yellow has retained a robust customer service team that is fully capable of handling inquiries and assisting with all support that customers might need,” the representative said.
Yellow, a 99-year-old company headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, employs some 30,000 workers. About 22,000 of them are represented by the Teamsters union. Teamsters and Yellow have been locked in a monthslong strife over changing key work rules at the trucking fleet. Now, sources say Yellow may file for bankruptcy imminently.
In a call to Yellow sales teams, Bergman shared a statement on the company’s potential shuttering — and pinned the blame on the Teamsters’ refusal to negotiate with the company:
“Since last January, we have made every attempt to meet with the IBT. The IBT’S refusal to negotiate for nine months, its freezing of our essential business plan, One Yellow and, finally, its strike authorizations caused customers to find alternative freight carriers and it’s had a catastrophic effect on our business. When IBT leaders were finally ready to meet this week, it was too late. By then, the IBT strike threat had already a devastating impact on our business, [unclear] investors and causing customers to quickly depart. Given this impact to our business, we are forced to announce additional headcount reductions of non-union employees.”
In a memo published to members Thursday night, Teamsters blamed Yellow’s management for the company’s financial issues:
“In the meantime, TNFINC and the IBT continue to try to work with the Government to determine whether there is a way to protect the Teamster families at Yellow. TNFINC and the IBT remain willing to work with Yellow and its lenders or potential lenders. Hope, however, is fading. Unfortunately, despite more than a decade of concessions totaling billions of dollars given to the Company by Teamster members as well as a massive government bailout loan in 2020, Yellow may finally be succumbing to its enormous debt burden.”
This story is developing. Check back here for updates.
Are you a Yellow employee with a story to share? Email rpremack@freightwaves.com.
R. LEGIS
Regis,
The ADEA disclosure requirements are such that an employer must notify their employee that they have a right to file a discrimination complaint, if they feel that their layoff/ firing was the result of discrimination…
By not following disclosure requirements, any waiver to sue for discrimination signed by the employee at the time of termination is invalid.
Please explain how Yellow committed age discrimination by laying off their entire workforce?
Also did employees even sign waivers to get their severance?
This is a terrible thing, really. But it is not a age discrimination.
The writing was on the wall
Yellow management has been down in the dumps for a long time but O’Brien is a joke himself he wants to play like a kid and play with people’s livelihoods and it shows people are tired of his crap and people are tired of executives at high management they’re crap too The Domino’s are falling and only time will tell but remember the executives at yellow and the heads of the Union they’re checking accounts are filled and fat while we slave away the day with pennies in our accountant demand and look for a new job and struggle to get by while both sides have their accounts fattened and filled to the brim.
Blame one or the other but no they’re both at fault and they’re both fat cats The union is a joke and so is the leadership at yellow
David Evans
Yellow ‘s headquarters is overland Park, KS. Not Nashville
Don
Neither the economy nor the union is to blame for YRC’s financial woes. The leadership of Yellow is fully responsible. I worked for Roadway Express, a debt-free company that was making money, when Yellow took over somehow, in a hostile buyout. Since that time, union employees have done nothing but give concessions to Yellow because the management was incompetent. There were wage concessions and thanks to Yellow’s mismanagement, since I retired 9 1/2 years ago, I have been shorted $54,000 and continue to be shorted approximately $500 per month.
Now that it appears it’s all over, I’m afraid my pension will eventually be cut since they will no longer be making contributions. I feel for all the guys I worked with who may never be able to retire or find another job like they had. No matter what anyone says, I KNOW THIS IS YELLOW FREIGHT MANAGEMENT’S FAULT…..100%.
Michael Holder
I worked for Holland for 23 years and left in 2018. After YRC took over we gave a 10% cut in wages then shortly after another 5%. No pension payments for a year and a half, basically 2 years. Then when they did start making payments it was for a quarter of what should have been. My pension was going backwards because of reduced payments. On top of this my paycheck had weekly and year to date totals of how much I had given up in wages. Depending on overtime I lost $12,000 to $20,000 a year. Don’t blame the Teamsters for their failure. We literally bent over backwards to save our jobs. Now they wanted more to survive. When is it enough. Thank God I left when I did and went ABF. I’m now retired and still don’t get all my pension that I should but it’s a damned sight better than if I had stayed put.
Joseph A Capozza
As a former Yellow driver back before the merge with Roadway having gone through this once before and it was a “cluster f***”! Now as a Holland driver I only wish u could say it’s deja-vous but it’s been 10 times worse with them trying to merge regional next-day carriers with a national break-bulk carrier… a complete mess! Killed the real Holland and it was for the same reason both times: they financed all the purchases and once the economy falters there’s not enough revenue to pay for their “brilliant ideas”, aka paying the loans! They’re pathetic!
Steve Daniel
Can’t lay all the blame on the Union. Yellow recently moved their corporate headquarters to the most lavish development in Nashville. Yellow drivers were earning wage less than most carriers.
Everyone can share blame. Where is all the PPP money the Trump administration gave the company. My heart breaks for the families who now have to pickup the pieces.
Marcella Kiger
I was advised that the 28th was my last day of employment. I knew it was coming, but what was so wrong was when I was blocked from accessing my personal account information on the website so I could sign up for the severance package and my paystubs.
Throughout the day it seemed like the computer shut down at certain time zones to prevent others from accessing it. So wrong!