Workers react to the closure of Yellow Trucking. Yellow Corp., a trucking corporation, has ceased operations, resulting in the loss of jobs for approximately 30,000 individuals. The shutdown affects all Yellow locations, including the Toledo and Bowling Green facilities.
Almost 18 years were spent by Jay Repka at Yellow’s Toledo facility. He told 13 Action News that he was terminated with less than 24 hours notice.
Read more: Thirty thousand workers lose their jobs when the 99-year-old trucking business Yellow closes.
“On Friday morning, my superior informed me that the facility was closing. We were let go. “We weren’t even given a day’s notice,” Repka said.
Once upon a time, the shipping company was an empire. In 2022, Yellow handled an average of nearly 50,000 daily shipments, according to SJ Consulting, a transportation logistics firm. Last week, it was estimated that there were fewer than 10,000 daily cargoes.
The company reportedly struggled to repay a 700-million-dollar pandemic-era loan from the federal government, and tensions between Unionized Workers and the Teamsters escalated.
Repka stated, “The company was doing so poorly that it could not afford the monthly payment for our health insurance benefits. I knew that if a strike occurred, Yellow Corp would go out of business in a big way.”
The company is anticipated to declare bankruptcy at any moment. Experts predict shipping costs will increase as former Yellow customers transfer their shipments to other carriers; for employees like Repka, the cost to their livelihood is already being felt.
“It is enough to reduce a man to tears. Repka stated, “I’m furious that my livelihood was taken from me, and it will take a long time to recover.”
13 Action News attempted to contact Yellow Corp for comment but did not receive a response.
