Yellow 'wanted to drive senior employees out': Local workers respond to bankruptcy filing

Local Yellow employees who lost their jobs took issue Monday with a bankruptcy news release issued Sunday by the company, with one employee suggesting the company had targeted older workers in contract talks.

In the announcement, Yellow CEO Darren Hawkins blamed Teamsters leadership for the freight hauler's collapse.

The company on July 30 ceased normal operations, permanently closing locations in Copley Township, Richfield and Green. Hundreds of local Yellow employees lost their jobs.

“All workers and employers should take note of our experience with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (“IBT”) and worry,” Hawkins said in the release.

The Yellow CEO went on to describe the company's perspective on its experience negotiating with the Teamsters.

Company's offers in negotiations 'progressively got worse'

Former Yellow dock employee Keith Stephenson, who worked at the Copley terminal, said the bankruptcy announcement failed to accurately portray the company's confrontational role in negotiations.

"What CEO of a trucking company would go on FOX News and tell the whole country if we don't get what we want we're going to go bankrupt?" Stephenson asked Monday in a phone interview.

During talks with the Teamsters, Stephenson said, the company changed proposals several times.

"They issued three or four different change proposals and they progressively got worse," he said.

Worker says Yellow failed to capitalize on union concessions

Stephenson and other local workers have said the company's unionized workers — estimated at 23,000 in Yellow's bankruptcy filing — made concessions over the years that Yellow executives failed to capitalize on.

"They wanted to drive the senior employees out because they didn't want to pay the six weeks vacation," said Stephenson, who worked 35 years for the company.

In its last offer, Yellow wanted all workers to have a commercial drivers license. Some workers who weren't drivers couldn't have qualified for medical or other reasons, Stephenson said, and would have been fired.

Looking for work, navigating unemployment

Charles Ferrell, a driver out of Copley, said both sides could have done a better job keeping workers' interests in mind.

"I don't think either side worked toward the good of the workers," he said Monday. "Yellow did what Yellow wanted to do. I think both of them could have negotiated better."

Like Stephenson and his colleagues in Summit County, Ferrell said he's filing for unemployment as he looks for another job.

"Right now, it's a tough business in freight," he said. "I haven't received anything in the mail from the company since the 30th."

Ferrell said he's required to provide documentation from the company that's necessary to qualify for unemployment benefits.

"We are supposed to include a letter from Yellow Freight that we were laid off," he said.

Stephenson said he was having similar issues filing for jobless benefits.

"Me and my wife sat here and she helped me file for unemployment and that took an hour and 45 minutes," he said. "…It shouldn't be that hard."

'Yellow is in my rear view mirror'

In the bankruptcy announcement, Yellow said it would fully repay a $700 million government loan it received during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also said it had partnered with the American Trucking Association to provide a searchable jobs database for the company's now-unemployed workers.

For some Summit County Yellow workers, however, the database is a case of too little, too late.

Lee Volkov, a local driver for Yellow, said he found a position with another trucking company last week.

"I'm going to keep on truckin'," he said Monday in a text. "Yellow is in my rear view mirror now and I need to keep my eyes on the road ahead!"

Yellow did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him at aashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Copley, Richfield and Green workers rebuild after Yellow collapse