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In this issue of ACWI Advance we take a closer look at these stories:
- Biden Targets Ongoing SC Crisis
- CA Drafts Covid Permanent Rule
- DOT Restricts Drivers on Drugs
- Online Grocery Sales Hit $8 Bil
- New Records Set By Warehouses
- Vax Mandates Worry Employers
- Is SC Mess Really a Labor Crisis?
Send your company news to Editor David Sparkman at dspark@comcast.net, and please understand that there is no cost to you when we use your news in this newsletter.
Biden Targets Ongoing SC Crisis
Last month President Biden launched a plan to address the supply chain crisis that has seen imports and exports stall, resulting in empty store shelves and threatening to blight gift during the upcoming holiday season.
On Oct. 13 he announced the effort he characterized as “a 90-day sprint” by the government and private sector companies involved in logistics management who will work together to address in a program that the President said possesses “the potential to be a game-changer" by clearing out major bottlenecks at ports.
CA Drafts Covid Permanent Rule
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) released a draft rule that would make the state’s Covid 19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) permanent (for at least two years).
“The expanded proposed duration as framed signals that Covid 19 protocols may be here to stay, even after the pandemic is a distant (or even not-so-distant) memory,” say attorneys for the law firm of Littler Mendelson.
DOT Restricts Drivers on Drugs
States will need to take away license privileges from any professional driver who tests positive for drugs and alcohol sooner under a new rule issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
This rule requires state licensing agencies to access and use information from FMCSA’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse indicating that driver or applicant may not lawfully operate a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) The state agencies are expected to be in “substantial compliance” with the new rule no later than Nov. 18.
New Records Set By Warehouses
The U.S. industrial market ended the third quarter with record-setting statistics with demand outpacing supply for the third quarter in a row.
In fact, the market absorbed 140.7 million square feet (msf) in Q3 2021 -- the most space ever absorbed in a single quarter of any year reported by Cushman & Wakefield, breaking the previous record from last quarter (126.4 msf).
This brought the year-to-date (YTD) 2021 absorption total to 365.9 msf, 98.0% above the same period in 2020, and also boasted the most absorption ever recorded in a single year with another quarter still to come.
Vax Mandates Worry Employers
A survey found that found most employers, 90%, believe it will be somewhat or very challenging to implement the Biden mandate that employers with 100 or more workers require them to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing.
Conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management in late September, it also found that 80% of human resources professionals polled are concerned about the time needed for enforcing or tracking employee vaccination and test status.
Is SC Mess Really a Labor Crisis?
At the middle of October, your view of the Pacific Ocean along the southern California coast was blocked by a record 100 cargo ships waiting to enter the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to unload an estimated 800,000 containers.
When the container ships finally unload, they then will face a current scarcity of dockworkers needed to unload the containers and a persisting shortage of qualified truck drivers to transport them to inland destinations.