Yellow Freight closure thread

I worked for USF Dugan back in the 90s. I worked for Estes 10 years ago. I worked for USF Holland (YRC) 7 years ago. Hollands yard was in New Brighton and they built a new yard in Coon Rapids and moved up there (Estes is now in that yard). When they did, Dugan moved into the yard in New Brighton (their yard was right next to CF in Blaine). When Yellow bought out USF, they dissolved Dugan and Estes moved into the New Brighton yard (that was 2008). Holland left behind a trailer that the floor was almost completely rotted out and the kingpin was sheared off. It was still there when I started at Estes in 2013 (I think Estes had it removed in 2014). That triler was there since before Dugan moved in there in 1999.

When I left Holland we still had 2 tractors from Dugan that were 20+ years old when I worked at Dugan in the 90s (1970s vintage). We still had some old Preston wagons laying around the Yellow yard in Burnsville (MN). Not to mention a bunch of 40+ year old Roadway crap.

Dont know if any of that crap was road worthy, but I doubt it. I also doubt it would end up in Florida

*except maybe as scrap on a barge.

 

Most of us have already moved on. There are some that are still waiting on unpaid vacation/sick days and whatever lost retirement contributions.

Both Yellow and the Teamsters are battling this in the courts. The reality is that the only ones getting paid after this are the lawyers.

 

Most have moved on but some haven’t. A few of them are still looking for jobs and haven’t been able to get one because of their association with Yellow,or in particular the union. Employers don’t want to deal with that baggage (guilt by association).

 

Most have moved on. There are some that can't find work. Some of them I met and they refuse to take a non union job and others can't find work for reasons you noted.

Imagine this. One day you come home from school only to find your home on fire. Then you spot your parents out front arguing about who is at fault for setting the fire, and they are so busy arguing that neither one wants to pick up the fire hose laying on the ground to start putting out the blaze. Some of your brothers and sister are out there cheering this on; siding with their favorite parent. Then the fire department rolls by and deems it a complete loss and the parents are still arguing about who caused the fire.

Now imagine being a prospective employer and watching this all unfold. They need workers for their own operations and it's tempting to onboard the experience that Yellow drivers already have. But you never know what's in their suitcase. Are they going to settle for your pay and benefits or are they going to try to rally the troops?

Because where there is smoke there is fire.

 

I’m pretty dumbfounded that I found pretty much the same exact job (teamster and p&d) you can prob guess who it is with how few of them are operating lol

 

In this particular case this fire was a five alarm blaze that had been burning for years!!
The writing was on the wall before the company ceased operations,from gross mismanagement to the misuse of government funds.

 

I got in and out when the blazin was good I guess. 5 years in and I’ll (hopefully) get a small pension

 

When I was a manager for FXF, we were specifically prohibited from hiring former Teamsters

 

Could you imagine taking a shot at three or four former Yellow workers from the same Holland, Reddaway, or YRC barn? Imagine if one of them happens to be an ex shop steward or just really an old school driver that grew their career in a Teamster environment where everything they did was by the books and by the contract?

One minute freight is leaving out the door like clockwork and the next you have Earl from YRC in the break room preaching the Gospel of Jimmy Hoffa to a crowd of half a dozen drivers that should already be at their first stop. Then suddenly you have drivers coming to you asking questions like "instead of 'sick days' where you have to be sick, can't we just call them 'personal days' instead and use them however?"

Now imagine your boss calling you in to discuss your judgement and your decision making process with the "new guys" that you brought in; along with your own future with the company.

SEFL is headquartered down here in Columbia. Their barn and also "head shed" are two exits away from me off of I-20 and Sunset Blvd. Those guys will absolutely not touch an ex-union driver under any circumstance. They would rather throw an underage Uber driver in a tractor trailer and hope DoT doesn't catch them before hiring someone like me. I've talked to their drivers and they said that their TMs have been threatened with termination if there is even talk of organizing. They want no part of this and honestly, after what happened at my old job; I can hardly blame them.

 

I had a guy at Conway (now XPO), who's name was Frank. He was movie star good looking...seriously....and had a wonderful personality. To the degree that if you told people (mostly women) that Frank was going to pick them up, they actually got excited.

So, a couple years later, Frank gets an offer from YRC. They were probably 45 miles closer than we were and you really couldn't blame him.
So, a couple of years later, I'm now the TM for FXF, and Frankie comes in looking for a job. Apparently YRC was scaling back.
Anyway, so I go to bat for Frank and was told under no circumstance was that ever going to happen. So, no go.

The moral of the story is this: Frank was probably one of the top 10 P&D drivers I've ever known.....and I've known a few.
But the taint of the the Teamsters will never wash off.