A strike at Yellow was averted today when the Central States Health & Welfare Fund agreed to continue healthcare benefits for workers at Yellow Freight and Holland. Without the agreement, 22,000 Teamsters would have lost their benefits because Yellow failed to make $50 million in benefit contributions that were due on July 15. Yellow now has 30 days to pay its bills with the understanding the company will do so within the next two weeks.

The decision by Central States to restore members benefits came after the personal intervention by Sean O'Brien and Fred Zuckerman. It wraps up a frenzied week during which the Teamsters issued a strike notice to Yellow and a U.S. District Court judge in Kansas rejected Yellow Corp.’s bid for an injunction to stop a strike.

A strike almost surely would have closed Yellow's doors, but Teamster members and IBT leadership were united in their refusal to have members work without healthcare benefits. 

Yellow is the third-biggest U.S. trucking company specializing in the less-than-truckload segment that combines shipments from different customers in the same trailer.

The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee will meet in-person with Yellow representatives in Washington, D.C. to try to find a resolution to the crisis at the company that does not involve concessions.