In another time, what I am about to tell you would have been huge national news. Since the news media seems to be obsessed only with finding a way to impeach Donald Trump, you have not heard about this.
Jack Cooper logistics, based in Kansas City filed chapter 11 bankruptcy about two weeks ago. It is the single largest car hauler company in the United States, transporting cars from the factory to dealerships, for the roughly 40% of cars that are not shipped by rail.
Jack Cooper is a unionized hauler with a contract with 2,000 members of the Teamsters. There is no formal requirement that UAW built cars be transported on unionized car transport trucks, although it was kind of a tradition in the past.
The “new” GM and some of the other players are using non-union transport companies for their vehicle deliveries, and a failing Jack Cooper was unable to find any new revenue streams given the pay rates they have to pay for union drivers, and all the accompanying problems with having union workers showing up at your business.
It looks like the company will be taken over by Sorbus alternative capital based in New York City, which is hoping to buy new trucks that can carry more cars more efficiently. If they fail, the company could be liquidated.
As a sidenote, if the GM strike drags on, it is eventually going to hurt the Kansas City Southern RailRoad and Schneider transport, who apparently do a big business in bringing up car parts from Mexico to the US assembly plants. KCS bought one of the railroads in Mexico after NAFTA was approved.
The United States that Donald Trump lives in and the United States that actually exists are very different places