NTTC Leaders Emphasize Solutions to Driver Shortages During White House Meeting
The National Tank Truck Carriers met with White House Officials yesterday to address the ongoing workforce shortage crisis impacting the trucking industry, and offered areas which the Biden Administration can assist to improve both drive recruitment and driver retention.
NTTC Chairman Rob Sandlin and NTTC President & CEO Ryan Streblow, representing the tank truck industry, were joined by peer trucking executives and trade organizations in collaborative discussion on supply chain issues with White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. Overall, meeting participants expressed support to White House Officials of the Biden Administration’s Trucking Action Plan to strengthen America’s trucking workforce.
NTTC Chairman Rob Sandlin said, “Without a doubt, recruitment and retention are the two clearest threats facing the North American tank truck industry. NTTC strongly supports increased outreach and an expansion of training opportunities, and the Trucking Action Plan is a great outline for recruiting top talent into truck cabs, while also addressing obstacles that inhibit driver retention. On top of the beneficial roundtable we had today at the White House, the association and I stand ready to help federal partners including the White House and the Departments of Labor, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs to strengthen America’s supply chain.”
The Trucking Action Plan recognized the vital importance trucking plays in America’s supply chain, and offers a set of goals to be accomplished within the next 90 days. The multi-faceted approach begins with the following actions to be implemented immediately:
- Take steps to reduce barriers to drivers getting CDLs
- Kick off a 90-day Challenge to accelerate the expansion of Registered Apprenticeships
- Conduct veterans-focused outreach & recruitment
- Launch joint DOT- DOL Driving Good Jobs initiative
The plan to engage both routine and nontraditional stakeholders is divided into sequential stages at 30, 60, and 90 days from implementation. Beginning with hosting listening sessions involving industry leaders and veterans organizations, the administration will then work to make trucking a more appealing career by streamlining CDL processing and studying driver compensation. Within 60 days of implementation, the administration will implement additional driver apprenticeship programs while augmenting veteran transition programs to encourage trucking as a viable choice. Finally, the administration will launch task forces regarding the advancement of women in trucking and the investigation of certain truck leasing agreements that may be detrimental to driver retention.
“NTTC has taken and will continue to take extensive steps to work with this administration on various solutions to improve the driver recruiting and driver retention in the tank truck industry”, stated NTTC President and CEO, Ryan Streblow. “In addition to NTTC’s support of a national apprenticeship program for professional drivers, we encouraged the administration to cut the red tape which is leading to delays on drivers obtaining CDLs and HMEs, join the industry on a national campaign promoting the professional driver as a skilled trade, and emphasized the trucking industry is this nation’s insurance policy to resolving the current supply chain challenges.”
