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ETA News Release: [04/03/2003]
Contact Name: Elissa Pruett
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676

U.S. Labor Department and Swift Transportation Form Business Partnership

Collaboration Will Help Recruit up to 20,000 Truck Drivers

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a National Business Partnership with Swift Transportation to recruit truck drivers and other personnel. Both Emily Stover DeRocco, assistant secretary of labor for employment and training, and Jerry Moyes, president and chief executive officer of Swift Transportation, said the partnership will help the firm hire 20,000 truck drivers nationwide this year.

“Swift Transportation will provide employment opportunities in the trucking industry that offer good paying jobs and good future prospects,” said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “The Workforce Development system’s One-Stop Career Centers will be working with Swift Transportation to help the company connect with the many motivated and good workers that access these centers seeking jobs.”

The Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration created the Partnerships for Jobs Initiative to ensure that large, national employers recognize the potential of local One-Stop Career Centers as a source of high quality employees. Based on a successful local partnership with the Memphis Area Career Center in Tennessee, Swift Transportation approached the Labor Department to help expand to other Centers across the country.

The One-Stop Career Centers, affiliated with the Labor Department and operated by state and local agencies, provide training, education and employment services in a single, customer-friendly location.

“We’re very proud of the nearly 1,900 One-Stop Career Centers nationally,” said DeRocco. “As they become more and more demand-driven, the public workforce system will consistently improve the match between employer and employee at the local level – putting Americans back to work in good jobs at good pay with career pathways.”

Moyes added, “Our experience has shown that the public workforce system is a valuable tool in meeting our human resources needs. We are excited about working with the Labor Department, connecting our managers and driver recruiters to local One-Stop Career Center offices across the country.”

The partnership announcement kicks off Swift’s “Drive To Your Future,” March 31 to April 11. At the event, managers and driver recruiters will meet with local workforce system representatives to discuss hiring new and experienced drivers; driver training programs; and employment opportunities for diesel mechanics, trucker recruiters and administrative staff at terminal locations.

For additional information about Partnerships for Jobs and Swift Transportation’s National Business Partnership, please visit www.nbpjobs.org.

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