The 106th Congress gave the trucking industry a reprieve by putting the hours-of-service rules on hold in September, but federal lawmakers were unable to reach a similar consensus on ergonomic regulations as their post-election session drew to a close.
Nor did they agree to accelerate the return to an 80% tax deduction for meals that truck drivers buy while working over the road.
The trucking industry was not helped by the spending packages cleared last week for White House approval. The Labor Department’s fiscal 2001 appropriations bill does nothing to prevent the implementation of new regulations that target ergonomic conditions in the workplace. It will cost billions of dollars every year to comply with the rules, U.S. industry leaders, including trucking managers, say.
The ergonomics rules, developed by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, will be implemented Jan. 16, four days before the presidential inauguration. But business interests are hopeful that the new Bush administration will kill the regulations before they can take hold.
For the full story, see the Dec. 18 print edition of Transport Topics. .
