Teamsters balk at Yellow Corp.’s proposed changes

As Yellow Corp. works through its consolidation of operations at regional carriers New Penn and Holland, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is pushing back.

Yellow Corp. recently filed revised change-of-operations notifications. The union says it does not approve of the plan presented.

“The Teamsters oppose any change of operations written in vague language or drafted to erode contractual standards and practices. Yellow will not be allowed to disrupt and upend our members’ lives,” Teamsters National Freight Director John A. Murphy said in a union statement.

Among the proposed change of operations:

• Convert driving jobs to “utility positions.” Yellow has lowered the number of utility positions from 998 in the original plan filed in October to 121.
• Drivers would be required to handle work at different terminals and freight on the docks.
• It would add more turns and would require drivers to haul freight to a terminal, work on the dock there, and then return to the original terminal by the end of a shift.
• Designated terminal turns would affect up to a quarter of line haul operations at 36 facilities.

The Teamsters, however, demand that established work standards and contractual protections be maintained, that primary lanes be preserved, and traditional road driver classifications and dock workers be protected. The union says it wants details on how the proposed changes would affect specific locations, freight flow, volume, ZIP code alignments, and work rules.

“The Teamsters are done making concessions and we will not be pushed around,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a union statement. “Our focus rests solely on protecting our members. If Yellow management gets in the way of that, we will go after this company with everything we’ve got.”

The operations consolidation is part of a network transformation announced in 2021 called One Yellow. The Nashville, Tenn.-based company is pulling its three legacy subsidiaries into one super-regional carrier.

The goal is to combine terminals to remove redundancy and improve efficiency. The first phase in the western U.S. affected 89 Reddaway and YRC Freight terminals. The second phase involves Yellow Corp.’s Eastern regional LTL carrier New Penn.

A company spokesperson for Yellow told Land Line that Phase 1 of the One Yellow strategy was completed in 2022 and is operational. Yellow is meeting with local union representatives to work out the details of Phase 2.

“The process continues. In the meantime, we’re focused on the work at hand: moving freight for our customers,” said Heather Nauert, Yellow spokesperson.

This phase of negotiations plays against a backdrop of lower freight volume and a bottom line in the red for Yellow Corp.

During the fourth quarter, the carrier reported a 25% year-over-year drop in tonnage.

Yellow also reported a net loss of $15.5 million in the fourth quarter despite the $28.2 million windfall from the sale of a terminal. LL

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