Over 362,000 union workers may go on strike nationwide over the next two weeks, as package and freight carriers UPS and Yellow Corp are nearing deadlines in separate teamster union disputes with each company. Yellow’s potential strike is more imminent, potentially kicking off next Monday, while a UPS work stoppage would begin on August 1.
Yellow has missed a $50 million payment for their employee’s benefits and is likely to miss a further payment in August if they cannot refinance over $1 billion in debt or restructure the company, which the teamsters are currently blocking them from doing. Bankruptcy is not out of the question for Yellow at the moment. UPS’s dispute is related to contract negotiations and increased pay for part-time workers, which is likely very steep. A UPS strike could cut daily parcel volume by as much as 4 million.
Related Stocks: United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS), FedEx Corporation (FDX), Yellow Corporation (YELL)
Package carrier UPS and less than truckload (LTL) freight shipper Yellow Corp, two key US logistics firms, are each embroiled in separate spats with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, threatening supply chain drama to close out the summer.
The latter dispute could result in a strike as soon as next week, with 22,000 workers at Yellow prepared to walk off the job if the company does not make a $50 million payment for employee benefits that was missed on July 15. If that payment is not submitted to Central States Health and Welfare Fund and the Central States Pension Fund by July 23, the union said it has prepared for a strike as early as next Monday. Bloomberg notes that Yellow, the third-largest LTL carrier, is in a race against the clock to refinance $1.2 billion of debt that matures in 2024. Without a refinancing or restructuring of the company, which the union is currently blocking, a timely payment appears unlikely as Central States Pension and Health Fund said it had been advised by Yellow that the company would also miss its payment for August as well. Per the Wall Street Journal, the company reported…
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