Today, The White House held an event to highlight steps the adminsitration has taken to recruit and retain more truckers and improve systems for transport of goods to ease supply chain stress.
Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien met with President Biden today during an event on the U.S. trucking industry at the White House. This is Biden's Trucking Action Plan.
Biden brings truckers to the White House, says 'drivers are facing real challenges'
In December, the White House announced a 90-day plan to improve the trucking industry and help loosen up supply chains in the process.
And since then, the industry has been challenged further by high fuel prices that have left some truckers — who often operate as independent contractors — worried about going bankrupt. Diesel prices hit their highest level since 1994 in mid-March, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
On Monday, President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg gathered in front of trucks on the White House South Lawn to highlight progress in the industry. "Trucking moves about 70% of all the goods in this country, and truck drivers are facing real challenges," said Biden.
"Nobody pays for wasting a truck driver's time except the trucker themselves," Buttigieg added in a follow-up interview on Yahoo Finance Live shortly after the event ended, adding, "These are the definition of essential workers and we have got to back them up, stand with them and make sure they are paid and treated like the very important workers that they are."
While there is little it can do about soaring diesel prices, the administration said it's focusing on improving working conditions in the industry. According to White House data, some companies must replace 90% of their workers each year due to high turnover as a result of, as the White House put it, “low job quality.”"In this iconic American industry, it is getting harder and harder to raise a family with the dignity and pride that you deserve, and it's no surprise that so many drivers left their jobs," Biden said.
"In this iconic American industry, it is getting harder and harder to raise a family with the dignity and pride that you deserve, and it's no surprise that so many drivers left their jobs," Biden said.
'Better quality trucking jobs’The administration highlighted what it calls “unprecedented actions” to both expand and improve trucker jobs since Biden's inauguration.
The administration points to job growth among truckers over the course of 2021 and, in particular, between December 2021 and February 2022. In a release, the White House called it the "best three-month stretch for long-distance truck hiring since the 1990s."
'Driver pay continues to rise’The administration also touted wage gains, as well as new apprenticeship programs to get more Americans — specifically more veterans and women — interested in getting behind the wheel.
The White House says that truckers' real wages have risen in the last year, even in the face of inflation. And an effort on Capitol Hill would provide income tax credits to further raise take-home pay.
“As driver pay continues to rise at a historic pace, this bipartisan bill would further benefit truckers and attract more into the profession,” the American Trucking Association recently said.
Biden officials focused on “detention time” as a way to improve the pay for truckers — and also address supply chain issues. Researchers estimate that truckers spend 40% of their time waiting while their cargo gets loaded or unloaded, often without being paid for that time.
Efforts to unclog ports would help alleviate this, but Biden officials say they plan to do more, including a new study of where drivers are being most often held up.
"Time equals money when they're waiting to pick up a load," Buttigieg said.
