We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
  • INDUSTRY PRESS ROOM
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • MEDIA FILE
  • Create Account
  • Sign In
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Free Newsletters
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC
    • Podcast
    • Webcasts
    • Blogs
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Global Logistics and Risk
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2022
    • Upload Your Video
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC
    • Podcast
    • Webcasts
    • Blogs
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Global Logistics and Risk
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2022
    • Upload Your Video
Home » Trade groups applaud executive order on rail talks

Trade groups applaud executive order on rail talks

Effort will help keep freight flowing, but West Coast dock worker negotiations and labor laws affecting California truckers remain key concerns, industry leaders say.

railway-station-g34938b69f_640.jpg
July 18, 2022
Victoria Kickham
No Comments
Supply chain industry trade groups are praising the Biden administration’s efforts to address ongoing railway labor negotiations, calling it an important step to avoid disruptions that would slow trade and add to inflationary pressures.

President Biden signed an executive order Friday establishing a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) to help resolve labor disputes between freight railroads and rail labor organizations. The move came ahead of a deadline to intervene in the nationwide talks covering 115,000 workers or risk a strike or lockout. The PEB has 30 days to investigate the dispute and issue a report on how it should be resolved.

Talks between major freight railroads and labor unions have dragged on for more than two years; Friday’s executive order begins a cooling-off period aimed at helping both sides reach a settlement.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA) said the PEB is an essential step to avoiding disruptions that would hamper trade as peak shipping season gets underway.

“Now that we are in the peak shipping season for back-to-school and winter holiday merchandise, it is critical that both parties come back to the table to reach an agreement without any kind of rail service disruption this fall,” NRF’s David French, senior vice president of government relations, said in a press release Friday. The association had sent a letter to President Biden earlier this month asking the administration to intervene.

ATA President and CEO Chris Spear echoed those sentiments.

“In order to move past our supply chain challenges and reduce the inflationary pressure that’s hurting American families, we must continue to steer clear of the kinds of avoidable, unnecessary disruptions to the movement of freight that this strike would have caused,” Spear said in a statement Friday. “Our nation’s supply chain has faced a wide range of stress factors during the past several months. We are glad the White House recognizes the importance of keeping freight rail running, one of the key modes of freight transportation that is highly interconnected with the trucking industry in delivering goods nationwide.”

The threat of a rail slowdown was adding to a host of other economic and supply chain pressures, including ongoing labor negotiations between shipping lines and dock workers on the West Coast, and the ramifications of California’s Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), a labor law that requires companies to compensate certain independent contractors as full employees, including truck drivers. Legal proceedings had kept the law from being applied to the trucking sector, but the issue is in the spotlight again following a June Supreme Court decision essentially allowing the law to take effect.

Dawn Tiura, CEO and president of Sourcing Industry Group (SIG), agreed that the rail issue is compounding the other problems occurring on the West Coast, but said the situation is expected to improve sooner than the dock worker talks. Combined with the complications of AB 5, she said the issues are a “perfect storm” affecting the supply chain, with the effects on trucking a key factor moving forward.

“We’re still down 85,000 drivers,” Tiura said in an interview Friday, referring to industry statistics citing a lack of available truck drivers nationwide.

SIG represents executives in sourcing, procurement, and risk at Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies. Tiura pointed to recent efforts to relax guidelines for obtaining a commercial driver’s license (CDL) as a helpful step, but said that finding ways to attract more workers to the trucking industry is essential to avoiding the disruptions and delays that have plagued supply lines the past few years.

“We have to start incentivizing people to drive,” Tiura said, adding that she expects further action on AB5, which she said will affect freight capacity in California. “Getting this solved is going to be so important.”

Independent owner-operator truck drivers blocked the Port of Oakland earlier this week in protest of AB5, which they say will put them out of business by increasing their costs—in the form of additional fees and higher insurance, for instance—or forcing them into full-time employment.

This story was updated on July 20, 2022.

Transportation Rail
KEYWORDS ATA - American Trucking Associations NRF - National Retail Federation SIG - Sourcing Industry Group
  • Related Articles

    Trade groups urge Biden to keep port labor talks moving

    Supply chain trade groups cheer Congressional progress on infrastructure bill

    The Logistics Matters podcast: Spencer Shute of Proxima on the impact President Biden's executive order on competition will have on logistics | Season 2 Episode 28

Victoria kickham headshot
Victoria Kickham started her career as a newspaper reporter in the Boston area before moving into B2B journalism. She has covered manufacturing, distribution and supply chain issues for a variety of publications in the industrial and electronics sectors, and now writes about everything from forklift batteries to omnichannel business trends for DC Velocity.

Recent Articles by Victoria Kickham

Meeting high-velocity challenges

Strategic planning pays off

Logistics industry growth slows in July

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Most Popular Articles

  • FedEx agrees to buy 10% stake in Berkshire Grey

  • No vacancy at the warehouse

  • Investment group pays $5.2 billion to buy Amazon air freight contractor Atlas Air

  • The key to successful digital transformation? Your people

  • Rakuten Super Logistics acquired by executive of firm it once bought

Now Playing on DCV-TV

Raymond energy youtube thumbnails 01

Power your future with Raymond energy solutions.

DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
At The Raymond Corporation, we design energy solutions that take your facility from today’s needs to tomorrow’s goals, with a full portfolio of material handling equipment and power sources that are engineered to work together, sharing data so they can be optimized over time. And from identifying the right solutions...

FEATURED WHITE PAPERS

  • Choose the Best Auto ID Technology for Tracking RTIs

  • 8 ways your facility can benefit from Hyster Reaction

  • Why Use RFID to Track RTIs

  • THE NEW WAY TO WAREHOUSE: 4 Innovations in Automation & Robotics to Boost Warehouse Productivity

View More

Subscribe to DC Velocity Magazine

GET YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • NEWSLETTERS
  • ADVERTISING
  • CUSTOMER CARE
  • CONTACT
  • ABOUT
  • STAFF
  • PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright ©2022. All Rights ReservedDesign, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing