SAINT PAUL, MN – Today the Biden Administration announced that all businesses with 100 or more employees have until January 4 to ensure their workers are fully vaccinated or implement regular testing for those unvaccinated. The rule, released by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration under the Labor Department, does not include an exemption for truck drivers, threatening the trucking industry and ongoing supply chain crisis.
Earlier this week, Rep. Barb Haley, R-Red Wing, and Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, along with 23 Republican state representatives, sent a letter to Sharon Block, Acting Administrator at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, urging her to exempt truck drivers from the vaccine mandate. The American Trucking Association reported that the vaccine mandate puts carriers at risk for losing approximately 74% of those unvaccinated employees or 37% of their total workforce to smaller carriers or retirements/resignations.
“At a time when our country is facing ongoing supply chain issues, we cannot risk losing workers,” said Rep. Haley. “Truckers play a critical role in agriculture, food, logging, manufacturing, retail, energy, and other industries. Now is not the time to put further stress on the supply chain.”
“The Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate on truck drivers will exacerbate the supply chain crisis,” said Rep. Robbins. “This policy will result in increased shortages and higher prices at a time when families are already facing significant inflation pressure. I urge the Biden Administration to rescind this one-size-fits-all vaccine mandate or, at a minimum, exempt truck drivers.”
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