Grace Johnson is Manager, Policy and Public Relations at NWPCA. She also manages the NWPCA PAC for the Association. She may be reached at 703.519.6104 or [email protected]
While the American Rescue Plan provided much-needed assistance to packaging industry businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), some aspects, such as the $300 unemployment insurance bonus, caused significant unintended issues for our industry and others, making it even more difficult to hire new employees. The call-to-action campaign asked state leaders to resolve the workforce crisis through innovative workforce solutions and/or by joining the other states in ending the federal government’s $300 per week supplemental unemployment benefits. You can still complete the campaign to share your concerns with your elected leaders at nwpca.quorum.us.
In addition to the campaign, NWPCA has started a blog post to compile responses from members on the latest lumber and labor shortages that members can follow and continue the dialogue. Amid the persistent themes of lumber and labor availability, our members also talk about increased communications with their customers to better understand their everyday challenges.
Contribute to the blog by emailing [email protected], or sign-in and add a post at palletcentral.com/blogpost/1936629/Lumber--Labor-Shortages-Pallet-Availability.
NWPCA continues to meet with Members of Congress, creating and building strong, bipartisan relationships, specifically with the House Agriculture Committee. We are consistently working with coalitions and other groups such as WPA, CWPCA, and through the Pallet Foundation to produce research, advancing the priorities of the wood packaging industry.
JUNE 2021