With U.S. and Canada both possibly enacting vaccine mandates, cross border trade may be crimped even further than it was with trucking firms expected to lose drivers. Though drivers have so far been exempt as “essential workers,” new mandates may impact up to 30 percent of the workforce, which can have a dire domino effect on factories nationwide.  Read More…

Some truck drivers as young as 18 are now being allowed to make interstate trips, a move made by the White House  to help assuage the nation’s supply chain headache. Though this new law may help chip at the 80,000 driver shortage, many safety advocates are raising safety concerns.  Read more… 

Truck drivers are receiving mixed messages on the vaccine mandate that is set to go in effect nationwide.  In November of last year, U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said truck drivers, due to the isolated nature of the position, should be exempt from the mandate, but the reality of the exemption is yet to be known as Walsh has not followed up on the topic since. Read more… 

The surging omicron variant has put a massive “dent” in the roster of many snow plow drivers, with some states failing to fill over 75 percent of the positions needed.  Hiring auxiliary workers has become an obstacle, as many of these drivers not only need a commercial driver’s license, but also need to be able to jump into a plow truck at a moment’s notice. Even with the safety allure of a socially distanced profession, employers are finding it extremely difficult to find enough applicants. Read More…