Biden pushes progress on driver shortage, supply chains in White House event

The White House went into overdrive at an April 4 event to showcase President Joe Biden’s working-class roots as well as his administration’s progress in easing the truck driver shortage and unclogging supply chains.

Biden hosted the event at the White House along with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Nine professional truck drivers and nearly two dozen CEOs from companies aligned with the American Trucking Associations were in attendance.

President Biden celebrated federal investments in the trucking industry, including  the administration’s “Trucking Action Plan,” unveiled late last year to ease conditions in the industry, add more drivers and modernize supply chains.

“I want to thank you (for) keeping America moving, because that's literally what you're doing—especially these last two years, helping carry the nation literally on your backs,” Biden said while standing in front of a pair of 18-wheelers on the White House lawn. “All of you here today are people our economy should be built around, because you all, you all are the people who literally make it run. That's not hyperbole. You literally make it run. I have nothing against investment bankers. They could all retire and nothing much would change. Y'all quit? Everything comes to a halt.”

An administration official described the Trucking Action Plan as “building supply chain resilience through better quality trucking jobs.”  

It comes at a tumultuous time in trucking. Even as truckers move 72% of the economy's goods, the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated a long-standing labor shortage in the industry.

The Biden administration is under fire to unclog supply chain shortages and knock down soaring inflation. The White House event was intended to serve as outreach to a segment of working-class Americans for a president who has portrayed himself as an ally to blue-collar workers.

“Investing in our workforce never stops,” ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said in a statement. “It’s a constant.”

Reminding everyone the trucking industry needs an additional 80,000 commercial truck drivers to meet consumer demand, Spear added, “We welcome the support of all elected officials as we recruit and train more talent into this critical industry.”

The Departments of Labor (USDOL) and Transportation have worked “quickly and efficiently,” Spear said, in approving ATA as a registered apprenticeship sponsor. This long-sought designation provides ATA member companies valuable new tools and resources to help recruit and train the next generation of trucking talent, he said.

“We thank and commend President Biden, Secretary Walsh, and Secretary Buttigieg for their commitment to the men and women of trucking who keep America moving forward.”

Last month, ATA signed a historic agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor establishing the association as an official registered apprenticeship sponsor.

As a USDOL-recognized sponsor at the national level, ATA can now provide its member-companies the ability to offer apprenticeships to job applicants while ATA and its partner FASTPORT—a USDOL intermediary specializing in transportation and logistics—administers the program for the participating companies.

J.B. Hunt Transport’s Senior Vice President Greer Woodruff praised the Biden administration today at The White House for tackling the chronic shortage of qualified truck drivers in the nation’s supply chain.

Woodruff, also representing The Trucking Alliance, a nonpartisan group of trucking companies whose members operate more than 80,000 trucks, explained “the need for a strong, stable and safe trucking workforce is greater than ever. Adding to that challenge, truck drivers are retiring at a faster pace than new members are entering the workforce, further widening the gap between need and availability.”

The Biden administration is urging employers to use the Department of Labor’s Registered Apprenticeship Program for truck drivers as a way to attract a next generation trucking work force.

Woodruff acknowledged that registered apprenticeships are “recognized as the gold-standard of workforce training”, and that the Biden Trucking Plan is “an efficient and effective solution.”

Woodruff also announced that the Trucking Alliance, whose companies collectively employ more than 80,000 drivers, will offer truck driver registered apprenticeships at more than 200 locations in 36 states, “backfilling many positions and creating more opportunities.”  ATA is also working with administration officials and Congress to expand opportunities in trucking for military veterans and women.

Maria Rodriguez, a first-generation immigrant from Venezuela who recently became a truck driver apprentice for NFI, a New Jersey-based trucking company, told attendees how her newfound career in trucking has provided the financial stability and flexibility needed to support her family.

“I feel like I leaped into this new career, and I’m so happy I did. I hope that I can be an inspiration to other women who are thinking of joining the industry,” Rodriguez said in a statement provided by ATA. “I struggled to find a career, but I didn’t give up, and now I’m a successful mom, daughter, friend and truck driver.

“As an essential part of the supply chain, I feel like I’m a part of something bigger than myself, which is rewarding,” she said.

Alphonso Lewis, a U.S. Army veteran with nearly 30 years of experience as a professional truck driver for the Yellow Corp., gave President Biden a tour of the inside of a truck cab while speaking about the opportunities that exist for veterans in trucking.

“Our nation’s heroes will find that America’s trucking industry is one big family with arms wide open,” said Lewis. “It was in the Army where I was trained and learned how to drive trucks, and it’s in this industry where I found my professional home after leaving the military. For any vet seeking a stable career path with good pay and benefits, I encourage you to look into the many opportunities that our industry has to offer.”