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The Daily
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NEWSLETTER BROUGHT TO YOU BY — AURORA
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
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NLRB’s new general counsel moves to kill Cemex, the card-check rule Teamsters have ridden to wins
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Aug. 26
Date GC’s memo prioritized reversing Cemex
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1969
Gissel Packing standard GC wants restored
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110
Black Hawk Casino workers organized via card check this year
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Crystal Stowe Carey, the National Labor Relations Board’s new general counsel under a rejiggered, now-full-quorum Republican majority, issued an Aug. 26 memo prioritizing a push to overturn Cemex — the Biden-era precedent that lets a union win recognition simply by showing a majority of workers signed authorization cards, without a secret-ballot election. Carey called Cemex "contrary to Supreme Court precedent and sound labor policy" and wants the board to reinstate the 1969 NLRB v. Gissel Packing standard, under which card-check recognition only kicked in after an employer had already committed unfair labor practices during an organizing drive.
The Teamsters have leaned on Cemex repeatedly this year: the union organized Amazon warehouse workers in San Francisco via card check, a case still awaiting full board review; won recognition for 110 workers at the Black Hawk Casino in Colorado through card check under an employer neutrality agreement; and claimed an Amazon fulfillment center in Rhode Island the same way. The rule is already under separate legal pressure — the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled earlier this year that the NLRB exceeded its authority by adopting Cemex without going through formal rulemaking.
Carey’s memo directs NLRB regional offices to bring cases that give the board a vehicle to revisit Cemex, a process that could take months to reach a final board decision even with a sitting Republican majority ready to act on it.
If Carey succeeds in unwinding Cemex, unions organizing warehouse and logistics workers lose the fastest path to recognition and go back to needing either a secret-ballot election or proof the employer broke the law first — raising the bar just as the Teamsters have used card check to notch wins inside Amazon’s network.
California, FMCSA square off in court over non-domiciled CDL freeze
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard oral arguments Friday in California’s fight against FMCSA’s freeze on non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses. Justice Department attorney Simon Jerome, representing FMCSA, argued California improperly issued CDLs valid for "years and years" to applicants whose legal-presence documents expire far sooner — the agency says roughly 20,000 of the state’s 65,000 non-domiciled CDLs, about a third, were issued that way. California deputy attorney general Kristen Kido countered that no federal statute requires a CDL’s expiration date to match or precede an applicant’s authorized-presence documents. The freeze bars California’s DMV from issuing new non-domiciled CDLs or renewing existing ones and has cost the state federal highway funding; California has already canceled 17,000 licenses following the federal audit. A related case, Lujan v. FMCSA, gets oral arguments before the same court next week.
Non-domiciled CDL holders are overwhelmingly immigrant drivers, so however the D.C. Circuit rules will decide not just California’s highway funding but whether states can set their own CDL expiration rules or must tie them to federal immigration timelines — a question other states watching North Carolina’s on-again, off-again resumption are also waiting on.
Hub Group warns of Nasdaq delisting notice, flags H1 operating loss
Hub Group told investors it missed Monday’s deadline to file its delayed financial statements and will request a Nasdaq hearing after receiving a delisting notice, the latest fallout from a $77 million understatement in purchased transportation expenses across the first three quarters of 2025 that the intermodal marketing company disclosed in February; restatements are also needed for 2023 and 2024. Hub Group lowered its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $3.6 billion-$3.8 billion, about 3% below prior expectations, and said it now expects an operating loss before one-time charges in the first half of the year, with H1 revenue projected at $1.7 billion-$1.8 billion. Shares fell 6.2% Monday while the S&P 500 slipped 0.6%. The company has also reshuffled leadership: Dave Yeager returned as chairman and CEO, Phil Yeager remains president and vice chairman, Todd Heeter is serving as interim CFO through the restatement process, and Patrick O’Donnell will take over as CFO once it’s complete. Hub Group says it’s pursuing cost cuts including rate increases, warehouse consolidation and yield-management improvements. "I am confident that this leadership team will help drive the business forward into its next phase of growth," Dave Yeager said.
A Nasdaq delisting notice and a first-half operating loss at one of North America’s largest intermodal marketing companies raises real questions about service continuity for shippers and rail partners leaning on Hub Group’s network, and the leadership shake-up during an unfinished restatement suggests the accounting cleanup — and the uncertainty it’s creating — still has room to run.
Police recover $586K stolen copper load 8 hours after Schneider impersonation scheme
Thieves impersonating Schneider National used the carrier’s publicly listed contact information to fraudulently pick up a $586,000 load of copper — six pallets — in DeKalb, Illinois, meant for Rock Hill, South Carolina. Schneider’s own GPS tracking led investigators to the freight at a warehouse in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, just eight hours after the theft, according to CargoNet, which logged the case as CN-26-09-00037. Four people were arrested — three in Kentucky, one in Ohio — and additional stolen equipment, including a chassis and container, turned up in Chillicothe, Ohio. DeKalb police, Kentucky State Police, Coolmore Logistics and the Ohio State Highway Patrol all took part in the recovery. "Cargo thieves operate across city, county and state lines, so our response must be just as coordinated," said Michael Ware, commander of the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Department. CargoNet analyst Shannon Elliott said investigators are examining whether the theft connects to other Schneider impersonation cases and broader organized cargo-theft networks.
The eight-hour recovery is the exception, not the rule, made possible only because Schneider had GPS data on equipment that was never actually its own — carriers and brokers should treat this as a reminder that verifying a company’s published contact information isn’t enough; identity verification and encrypted booking channels are what stop the pickup from happening in the first place.
Bank exits leave mid-size fleets facing a tighter truck-financing market
Fewer lenders are competing for truck-financing business after a 3.5-year freight downturn in which 85% of motor carriers with less than two years of operating experience failed, leaving survivors with weaker credit profiles just as financing rates diverge sharply — from 5.25% for investment-grade carriers to more than 12% for lower-credit operators. Class 8 truck prices, which peaked near $118,000 in early 2022 (136% above pre-pandemic highs), have settled back to $60,986, and Kirk Mann, Mitsubishi HC Capital America’s executive vice president and general manager of transportation vendor solutions, says the market is simply working through replacement demand rather than a rush to beat emissions rules. "I don’t think it’s a lot of EPA pre-buy," Mann said. "I think it’s just simply replacement demand." Mitsubishi HC Capital, which stayed in the market through the downturn’s wave of repossessions, has seen over-the-road volume improve roughly 30%; about 80% of new fleet purchases are new trucks rather than late-model used.
With fewer lenders competing and Class 8 pricing back to earth, mid-size fleets seeking financing now win or lose on how well they can show a granular handle on cost per mile — "if you don’t understand your cost per mile, nothing else really matters," Mann said — rather than on financial statements alone.
Brought to you by Samsara — built with operators, for operators. Blind spots cause some of fleets’ costliest, most complex collisions. Learn how AI-powered 360-degree visibility helps you spot risks in real time and protect drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.
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Your next truck could drive itself.
Aurora Driver 2 is hauling freight on public roads. No one behind the wheel.
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Whether Cemex survives board reviewCarey’s memo starts a process that could take months to reach the full board. Watch for which pending card-check cases — including the San Francisco Amazon organizing drive — become the vehicle for a formal reversal. |
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The D.C. Circuit’s non-domiciled CDL rulingA decision could land any time after Friday’s arguments. Watch whether the court sides with FMCSA’s expiration-date reading or California’s — the outcome will shape how other states handle non-domiciled CDL timelines. |
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More carrier-impersonation theftsCargoNet is checking whether the DeKalb copper theft links to other Schneider impersonation cases. Watch for additional recoveries or arrests tied to the same network in the coming weeks. |
