Posts tagged Supply chain
Exclusive: Biden’s emergency board calls for railroad wage hikes to resolve contract talks
August 18, 2022 // U.S. President Joe Biden's emergency board tasked with helping major freight railroads and unions end a contract negotiation stalemate proposed on Tuesday annual wage increases of between 4% and 7% through 2024, according to a report seen by Reuters. The board also recommended in its 119-page report set to be made public as early as Wednesday a 3% retroactive increase for 2020 and 3.5% for 2021, when the rail workers did not have a contract, along with five $1,000 annual bonuses and an additional paid day off.
Booming US cannabis industry seen as fertile ground for union expansion
August 3, 2022 // Union organizing in the cannabis industry has driven a surge of union elections in retail, one of the few industries to experience unionization gains in recent years, winning 18 out of 26 union elections in 2021. The United Food and Commercial Workers and the Teamsters both represent thousands of workers in the cannabis industry and are leading union organizing campaigns to keep up with the pace of the industry’s growth.
Commentary: Is the labor market really as good as the administration says?
July 27, 2022 // Most significantly, 18 months’ worth of bonus unemployment benefits that paid most people more to stay on the sidelines than to work caused millions of people to leave the labor market. Meanwhile, Washington stimulated consumer and business demand for goods and services by flooding the economy with trillions of dollars in so-called COVID-19 relief — about half of which was money printed by the Federal Reserve.
Trucker strike in the Port of Oakland threatens supply chain disruptions
July 22, 2022 // R Street Institute’s western region director, Steven Greenhut, who lives in California, is not convinced that his state’s current government will be up to fixing the problem. “California lawmakers exempted more than 100 professions from their misguided ban on independent contracting, Assembly Bill 5,” he told the Washington Examiner. “But they never bothered to address the impact of their law on trucking, which is one of the most important functions in our economy.” Greenhut said it was “astounding” that lawmakers didn’t act on this “given the ongoing supply chain disruptions and the backlog at the LA area ports.” Danny Wan, diesel emission rules
Department of Labor Rule – Coalition Letter
July 22, 2022 // The January 7, 2021 DOL rule has provided clarity to the decades-old economic realities test for the modern workforce, helping to apply determinations in light of the different types of work and technologies used to work and connect with customers today. Instead of removing this clear and sensible standard and attempting to diminish or eliminate independent contracting, we urge you to preserve paths to self-employment that allow tens of millions of working Americans, parents of children with special needs, workers seeking career changes, disabled workers and workers caring for disabled family members, and entrepreneurs growing small businesses of their own to pursue work on their own terms. Brent Wm. Gardner, Brandon Arnold, Grover Norquist, Michael J. Lotito, Greg Sindelar, Krisztina Pusok, Ph. D., The American Consumer, American Legislative Exchange Council, Lisa B. Nelson, Center for Freedom and Prosperity, Andrew F. Quinlan, Robert Fellner, Heather R. Higgins, Independent Women's Voice, Bethany Marcum, Alaska Policy Forum, Mike Stenhouse, Mike Hruby, New Jobs America, Paul Gessing, Rio Grande Foundation, Seton Motley, Less Government, Robert Alt, Steve Delie, Brian Minnich, Daniel Erspamer, Pelican Institute, Eric Peterson, Pelican Center for Technology and Innovation, Randy Hicks, Georgia Center for Opportunity, Alliance for Opportunity, Jeffrey Mazzella, Center for Individual Freedom, Douglas Carswell, Mississippi Center for Public Policy, David Williams, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Ryan Ellis, Center for a Free Economy, Phil Kerpen, American Commitment, James Taylor, The Heartland Institute, Adam Brandon, FreedomWorks, Elaine Parker, Job Creators Network Foundation, Brandon Dutcher, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, Thomas A. Schatz, Citizens Against Government Waste, Justin Owen, Beacon Center of Tennessee, Matthew Kandrach, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, Charles Mitchell, Commonwealth Foundation, James L. Martin, 60 Plus Association, Saulius “Saul” Anuzis, 60 Plus Association,
Biden averts freight railroad strike – for now
July 18, 2022 // The presidential board can only make nonbinding recommendations on the railroad contracts, but those will serve as the basis for a new round of negotiations that could yield a contract that has eluded the railroads since talks began more than two years ago. Even if those efforts fail, Congress would likely intervene to prevent a strike. Lawmakers could impose terms on the railroads and their 12 unions at that point or take other action to keep the trains moving. The National Carriers’ Conference Committee that represents Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Kansas City Southern and other railroads said it believes the wage increases railroads are offering are fair based on other recent major labor agreements, but the unions say none of the offers so far do enough to offset inflation or reflect the current worker shortages. Plus, the railroads want workers to pay more of their health insurance costs, which the unions say would eat up most, if not all, of the proposed raises. Rob Benedict, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Brendan Branon, Dennis Pierce, Jeremy Ferguson,
PRO ACT WOULD CAUSE MORE SUPPLY CHAIN, WORKFORCE CHAOS
July 6, 2022 // The problem with the President’s position on the PRO Act is that it cuts completely against his mission to ensure supply chain resilience. Specifically, the PRO Act would allow for secondary activity including picketing, strikes, and boycotts directed at neutral third parties that are not involved in a labor dispute. For example, the Teamsters could picket and block shipments to a retail warehouse because they want to organize a trucking company. Allowing secondary activity aimed at a neutral retailer would cause significant economic impact throughout the supply chain where multiple businesses including retailers, suppliers and distributors work together to get goods to consumers. ILWU, PMA
West Coast port union, employers say no plan for strike or lockout
June 16, 2022 // The news came just hours before the nation’s busiest ocean trade gateway in Los Angeles, which employs the lion’s share of West Coast port workers, reported near record imports for May. Import volumes at the Port of Los Angeles are easing from the levels seen during the throes of the pandemic, when home-bound shoppers binged on everything from exercise equipment to garden supplies. Still, they remain about 20% above normal Lisa Baertlein
What West Coast ports’ labor negotiations mean for your packages
May 27, 2022 // The employers’ right to automate their operations has become a prominent issue in the contract. The 2002 deal introduced new technologies such as scanners and character-recognition technology, while the 2008 pact explicitly authorized automation. Last year, Total Terminals International LLC announced its intention to fully automate its Long Beach operations, a project the ILWU strongly opposed. This would make it San Pedro Bay’s fourth terminal with some automation out of the port complex’s 14 hubs.
ABC to Biden Administration: Withdraw the DOL’s Davis-Bacon Proposed Rule
May 18, 2022 // “The DOL’s proposed rule does little to improve or modernize Davis-Bacon Act regulations in the face of decades of complaints by government officials, taxpayer watchdogs and industry stakeholders critical of this regulatory boondoggle well-known for increasing the cost of construction, discouraging competition from small businesses and diminishing the value of taxpayer investment in government infrastructure projects,” said Ben Brubeck