Teamsters threatening Yellow, a nearly bankrupt trucking company, with a strike have postponed their plans, most likely saving the company from liquidation, for now. Paul Page reports in The Wall Street Journal:
The Teamsters union pulled back its threat of a strike this week at financially-ailing trucker Yellow, averting an action the company had said would send the business into liquidation.
The union said Sunday that it withdrew plans for the walkout, which could have started as soon as Monday, after a pension fund agreed to continue to extend health benefits to unionized workers at Yellow and a sister company and would give Yellow another 30 days to make a missed payment to the fund.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said the agreement was reached late Sunday in talks with the Central States Health and Welfare Fund.
Yellow officials had no immediate comment on the Teamsters announcement. The Central States fund couldn’t be reached for comment.
Nashville, Tenn.-based Yellow, one of the largest trucking companies in the U.S. and a major service provider to the Defense Department, has sought to delay payments totaling $50 million to Central States as the company copes with a heavy debt burden and falling cash reserves.
Yellow employs about 30,000 workers, including about 22,000 union members.
A federal judge in Kansas City, Mo., on Friday rejected Yellow’s request for an order blocking a strike after telling the court a walkout would send the 99-year-old company into chapter 7 liquidation proceedings.
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