Legislation introduced in the Senate late yesterday would give governors with marine terminal operations in their states the right to invoke federal law to prevent a waterfront labor-management dispute from disrupting the flow of commerce within their borders.
The legislation, cosponsored by Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) would amend the Taft-Hartley Act, the 1947 labor law that governs most labor-management relations in the United States, to grant the nation's governors sweeping new authority to stop maritime labor conflicts. The bill has been dubbed the "Protecting Orderly and Responsible Transit of Shipments (PORTS) Act."
Under the legislation, a governor in an affected state could request that the president form a special board of inquiry, which would set in motion the legal process leading to the declaration of a national emergency and the implementation of Taft-Hartley. If the president doesn't act within 10 days, the governor could appoint a board of inquiry on his or her own. The panel would have 30 days to produce a report on the situation. Once the report is submitted, the affected governor or governors could petition the federal courts to enjoin strikes, slowdowns, and management lockouts at the ports in their respective states, under the bill.
Under the legislation, only the president could seek an injunction to stop a coastwide slowdown or stoppage; governors can only enjoin work stoppages occurring in their own states. President George W. Bush invoked Taft-Hartley in October 2002 to stop a 10-day management lockout of International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) workers at 29 West Coast ports.
The bill comes as ports along the West Coast return to normal operations following an 11-month contract fight between ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) that resulted in significant vessel delays and shipment backlogs. During the dispute, management accused the union of engaging in deliberate work slowdowns at key ports like Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Seattle. The Gardner-Alexander bill would include work slowdowns as a trigger for governors invoking Taft-Hartley powers.
On Feb. 20, both sides tentatively agreed to a new five-year contract; the pact was ratified late last month.
Gardner said in a statement on his web site that the bill would give state governments additional tools to help end disputes that can inflict severe damage on state and local economies. Gardner also had harsh words for organized labor's alleged actions during the most recent dispute. "Labor union bosses should not be allowed to hold the economy hostage, nor should they be allowed to use the livelihoods and jobs of millions of Americans as bargaining chips," he said.
Organized labor has never been fond of Taft-Hartley; when it became law on June 23, 1947, labor leaders at the time referred to it as the "slave-labor bill." Congress overrode the veto of President Harry S. Truman, who nonetheless would invoke Taft-Hartley authority 12 times during his presidency.
The ILWU had nothing positive to say about the Gardner-Alexander bill. "The proposed bill is outrageous, extremist, antiworker legislation," said Craig Merrilees, a union spokesman.
Not surprisingly, business groups were pleased with the introduction of a bill to strengthen Taft-Hartley's powers by extending authority to the states. More than 100 groups signed a letter to Gardner applauding him for the legislation. "We believe this approach correctly reforms the Taft-Hartley process to align political incentives and promote government action in the face of great harm to our national economy," the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) said in a separate statement. "Most importantly, the bill clearly defines and expands situations in which Taft-Hartley can be invoked, preventing legal ambiguity from causing further inaction that exacerbates these detrimental port disruptions."
The Agriculture Transportation Coalition, which represents U.S. exporters whose businesses were severely affected by the recent standoff, said the bill will prompt governors to quickly intervene in a labor dispute if the federal government moves too slowly; President Obama did not invoke Taft-Hartley in the most recent dispute, choosing instead to dispatch Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez in mid-February to facilitate negotiations.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The U.S. manufacturing sector has become an engine of new job creation over the past four years, thanks to a combination of federal incentives and mega-trends like nearshoring and the clean energy boom, according to the industrial real estate firm Savills.
While those manufacturing announcements have softened slightly from their 2022 high point, they remain historically elevated. And the sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of the November U.S. presidential election, the company said in its September “Savills Manufacturing Report.”
From 2021 to 2024, over 995,000 new U.S. manufacturing jobs were announced, with two thirds in advanced sectors like electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, semiconductors, clean energy, and biomanufacturing. After peaking at 350,000 news jobs in 2022, the growth pace has slowed, with 2024 expected to see just over half that number.
But the ingredients are in place to sustain the hot temperature of American manufacturing expansion in 2025 and beyond, the company said. According to Savills, that’s because the U.S. manufacturing revival is fueled by $910 billion in federal incentives—including the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—much of which has not yet been spent. Domestic production is also expected to be boosted by new tariffs, including a planned rise in semiconductor tariffs to 50% in 2025 and an increase in tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%.
Certain geographical regions will see greater manufacturing growth than others, since just eight states account for 47% of new manufacturing jobs and over 6.3 billion square feet of industrial space, with 197 million more square feet under development. They are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.
Across the border, Mexico’s manufacturing sector has also seen “revolutionary” growth driven by nearshoring strategies targeting U.S. markets and offering lower-cost labor, with a workforce that is now even cheaper than in China. Over the past four years, that country has launched 27 new plants, each creating over 500 jobs. Unlike the U.S. focus on tech manufacturing, Mexico focuses on traditional sectors such as automative parts, appliances, and consumer goods.
Looking at the future, the U.S. manufacturing sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of November’s presidential election, Savills said. That’s because both candidates favor protectionist trade policies, and since significant change to federal incentives would require a single party to control both the legislative and executive branches. Rather than relying on changes in political leadership, future growth of U.S. manufacturing now hinges on finding affordable, reliable power amid increasing competition between manufacturing sites and data centers, Savills said.
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.