Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/566087
September 2015 | Overdrive | 15 A coalition of labor advocacy and lobbying groups last month asked transportation-focused lawmakers in the U.S. House to reject a Senate proposition that would allow truck- ing companies to use hair testing for driver drug screening in lieu of now-required urine tests. The groups' concern is that hair testing isn't as accurate as urine testing. The hair-testing provision is one of several major trucking regulatory elements in the Senate's DRIVE Act highway bill. Seventeen workers' advocate associations asked those in the House tasked with crafting the lower chamber's version of the DRIVE Act to nix the provision. House lawmakers have not indicated whether the lower chamber will do so in its upcoming fall session. "We urge the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to reject efforts to allow hair to be used for federal drug tests before the va- lidity and reliability of this testing method can be determined by the Department of Health and Human Services," the groups write in their letter. Urine testing has "proven effec- tive," while hair testing can trigger false positives, the groups argue. The American Trucking Asso- ciations and some large national carriers such as Schneider and J.B. Hunt have pressed regulators to allow carriers the option to drug-test drivers with hair samples, saying the tests are more accurate and show potential drug usage further back than urine tests. But before DHHS can provide "similar evidential support carefully studied by the experts with such au- thority," the labor advocates argue, carriers still should be required to use and rely on urine sample tests. Associations included in the letters' signature include, among others, the American Civil Liberties Union, the International Brother- hood of Teamsters, the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department, the Transport Workers Union of America, the United Steelworkers, the National Workrights Institute and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen. – James Jaillet Coalition opposes hair sample drug testing Current federal regulations require drivers to be screened via a urine sample prior to starting a job. OREGON RAISED speed limits effective March 1, 2016, to 65 mph for trucks and 70 mph for passenger vehicles on Interstate 84 east of The Dalles to Idaho and on U.S. 95 from Idaho to Nevada. The state also changed the limits to 60 mph for trucks and 65 mph for passenger vehicles on portions of U.S. Highways 20, 26, 97, 197 and 395, as well as State Highways 31, 78 and 205. CON-WAY FREIGHT main- tenance employees in Port- land, Ore., voted against representation by the Teamsters, joining company employees in Buffalo, N.Y., Manchester, N.H., Hayward, Calif., Santa Fe Springs, Calif., San Fernando Valley, Calif., Bakersfield, Calif., and Harlingen, Texas, in rejecting the union's efforts. The Teamsters won approval from Con-way employees in Los Angeles, Miami Lakes, Fla., and Laredo, Texas. THE PORTS of Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., voted to form the Northwest Seaport Alliance. It unifies the two former competitors' cargo terminal investments, operations, planning and marketing to strengthen the ports' appeal and attract more cargo to the Puget Sound cargo gateway, the third-largest in North America. WALMART DRIVER Ronald Emenheiser Sr. of Yorkana, Pa., was named the 2015 Bendix Grand Champion at the 78th annual National Truck Driving Champion- ships and National Step Van Driving Championships, sponsored by the American Trucking Associations. Brook Figgins, a profes- sional driver for FedEx Freight, was named 2015 Rookie of the Year after competing in the sleeper berth division. The Wiscon- sin driving championship team won honors as the highest scoring state. CARGO THIEVES STOLE more than $19.5 million from the country's supply chain in the second quar- ter, according to CargoNet. Year-over-year cargo theft increased 8 percent in the second quarter, while the total estimated value of stolen cargo was up $8 million.