TRUCKERS AND RAILROADS ARE PISSED OFF BECAUSE WHITE HOUSE DECISIONS AFFECTING THEM ARE MADE WITHOUT THEIR INPUT

White House Snub Rankles Truckers and Railroads

 

By Philip Wegman

 

Real Clear Politics

March 18, 2022 

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In the Eisenhower Office Building, just across the street from the White House on Tuesday, a select group of businesses were gathered around a board room table with key Biden administration officials to discuss a new data-sharing initiative between industry and government.

It was a complicated plan meant to streamline supply chain data, hopefully adding another tool to the White House arsenal in the fight against inflation. And its bureaucratic name was a mouthful.

"Freight Logistics Optimization Works," Pete Buttigieg said, reading slowly from his notes then pausing to joke, "I'm going to try to memorize what that stands for." Everyone laughed. "I think we will just go with ‘FLOW' at the outset," the transportation secretary added. More laughter.

Later, John Porcari, a key figure in the White House supply chain task force, offered some help by way of a clarification. The new plan, Porcari explained in an interview with CNN, was meant to increase efficiencies in the flow of goods "from ship to shelf." But whatever the program is called, major players in trucking and rail aren't laughing. Most are confused. Some, furious.

It isn't that they disagree with the initiative. Almost everything that moves from ships in ports to shelves in stores must be carried there on either a truck or a locomotive, or more realistically, on both. But representatives from those industries tell RealClearPolitics they were blindsided by an announcement that will affect their businesses without their input.

"It's like, c'mon guys, let's get on the same page. It isn't like we haven't been having this kind of discussion for some time," said Chris Spear, CEO of the American Trucking Associations, the largest organization representing the industry in the United States. "Let's keep the right players at the table because you're going to need them, and they do. They need all of us. They need rail. They need trucking,"

"To be that blatantly dismissive," Spear told RCP of the White House decision to exclude his industry from talks, "is very alarming."

Eighteen different stakeholders were invited to collaborate with the White House, many of them crowding into that EOB conference room in person. There were representatives from port authorities and ocean carriers and terminal operators. Retailers, like Target and True Value, also attended. Even Land O' Lakes got an invite. FedEx and UPS made it into the room, too, but according to a factsheet published online, they were there to address "logistics and warehousing," not trucking specifically.

The truckers? They were absent. And so were the railroads. The two industries that kept store shelves stocked during the pandemic did not have a seat at the table. At first, Derek Leathers says he was "shocked." Then after some thought, the chief executive of Werner Enterprises, which employs more than 9,000 drivers, said his opinion changed to "grave disappointment."

"It's almost impossible for me to imagine a world where an announcement relative to a supply chain coalition would not include the two modes that move 90 plus percent of all tonnage in America," Leathers told RCP. Ted Greener, a spokesperson for the Association of American Railroads, said his group would still "welcome any future discussions with policy makers," adding that his industry continues "to operate 24/7 to meet customer demand" and "to share data and improve visibility.

When an industry insider protested to the White House, the response was that the FLOW plan was "just a concept." That response rankled the insider, who says his industry has worked closely with the Departments of Commerce and Transportation. In fact, they have found a willing partner in Buttigieg, the insider said, adding that the secretary normally gets "a gold star in my book."

A White House spokesperson told RCP that the administration has "very strong relationships with trucking companies and unions that represent them," adding that they are already "looking forward to building on these relationships at every opportunity."

The exclusion of truckers and the railroads isn't necessarily permanent. The Biden official said that since announcing the program, "we've received a lot of interest from more organizations to be a part of FLOW and we expect to expand to include more partners in the near future. This will make the data sharing effort even stronger."

And besides, the official noted, FedEx and UPS were in the room, and "they are major trucking employers represented in these initial participates, including a unionized firm." They added that UPS is already part of "our robust Trucking Action Plan."

This White House has not overlooked truckers in the past, and the plan that the aid pointed to is popular in the industry. The administration worked throughout Biden's first year in office to put it together, cognizant of the need for more truckers and of the fact that 72% of goods in the U.S. are shipped by truck. To the delight of the industry, they rolled out a first-of-its-kind apprenticeship program to create a steady pipeline of new drivers. Given that past cooperation, the current snub stings all the worse.

Truckers aren't immune from supply chain shock either. Many have found it difficult to source new parts for their rigs. And increasing fuel prices can bankrupt a non-unionized independent owner-operator if not handled properly. Talk from the White House about quickening the transition from fossil fuels has raised eyebrows.

Biden recently told reporters that the current energy crisis stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine "should motivate us to accelerate the transition to clean energy." And at the beginning of the month, Vice President Harris heralded that "our transportation sector has reached a turning point." Those remarks set off alarm bells.

The trucking industry knows that electric vehicles are the future, but it's a future that is decades away. Some wondered if those goals, a top priority among Biden's economic council, were the reason trucking was left off of the White House invite.

Like everyone else, truckers aren't immune from the regular partisan divide, but Spear said that shouldn't matter. "I've got a job to do," he explained, "and it doesn't matter who the electorate sends to the White House, the House, or the Senate. If they are in charge, we've got to work with them - I can't take two years off and hope for a change in leadership."

"But when you see something like this come out, and it's that exclusive with no explanation, no warning," he said, "man it just it just reinforces what so many out there feel in their gut, ‘you can't trust these people.'"