Posted on 09/06/2007 9:51:39 AM PDT by Dubya
SAN DIEGO — Dozens of truckers waved signs and American flags at a border crossing Thursday to protest a program that will allow up to 100 Mexican trucking companies to freely haul their cargo anywhere in the United States.
The U.S. Transportation Department was expected to begin issuing operating permits in the pilot program as early as Thursday.
The Teamsters union, Sierra Club and nonprofit group Public Citizen sued to try to stop the program, arguing that there won't be enough oversight of the drivers coming into the U.S. from Mexico and public safety would be endangered.
A federal appeals court ruled Friday, though, that the Bush administration could move ahead.
Government lawyers said the program was a necessary part of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the trucks enrolled in the program would meet U.S. regulations.
NAFTA requires that all roads in the United States, Mexico and Canada be opened to carriers from all three countries. Canadian trucking companies already have full access to U.S. roads, but Mexican trucks can travel only about 20 miles inside the country at certain border crossings.
The current pilot program is designed to study whether opening the U.S.-Mexico border to all trucks could be done safely.
This is gonna get ugly.
Based on the few Mexican trucks I've seen inside the current 20 mile limit, the obvious answer is NO!
And how many of those drivers protesting at the border do you think are really looking forward to driving their rigs in Mexico? Can you spell Z-E-R-O?
Yes I believe it will.
My mother is a truck broker and one of her drivers said “they will be dead before they take food of my table”.
This will also affect dockworkers at the ports. Do you really think that all the other countries are gonna ship straight into our ports when they can offload in Mexico and truck the stuff from Mexico to all over the USA?
Besides the security problems we are gonna have with it.
This is just another way of bypassing alot of security and wage guarantees.
SO, fellow freepers - here is my question. Would someone
please find the ‘controling documents’ in this old Clinton NAFTA agreement?
I want to read the actual regulations to know if they contain any teeth and who is responsible. Can a USA attorney sue a Mexican truck company for damages?
This is one time I imagine I can support the ambulance chasers.
SO, fellow freepers - here is my question. Would someone
please find the ‘controling documents’ in this old Clinton NAFTA agreement?
I want to read the actual regulations to know if they contain any teeth and who is responsible. Can a USA attorney sue a Mexican truck company for damages?
This is one time I imagine I can support the ambulance chasers.
I started working in the management of Container Terminal Operations when the Industry first started. I worked in the ContainerShip and associated fields for thirty-five years. I can remember many a discussion in meetings with Terminal Operations and the Containership Owners Representatives as early as 1970 in which the strong desire to open facilities in Mexico were the topic.
The Port costs were the basis of the problem leading to the desire of the move to Mexico. Long Beach and Los Angeles were too expensive. West Coast in general actually and those cost discussions always were lead with disdain for the I.L.W.U., and the milking of the Ports by Politico’s to sustain them in office.
We can see it again in the recent bill in Sacremento to add a $68.00 charge per 40ft. container. Politicians trying to tap that industry for their political sustenance, and further raising the costs of imported goods to all consumers, but that isn’t my point.
The point is that prior to this time the Container Shipping Industry did not move to Mexico due the inability to truck/rail into the United States efficiently.
Need I spell it out as to what the next step in this situation will be?
Curious, is Mexico permitted to fly airplanes into US airports?
Cross country trucker friend tells me he’s seen them already at truck stops pointing at menu pictures while ordering. Can’t speak a word of english.
Also claims they pack the cab and drive non-stop. Restroom breaks? Let’s just say that is not bug splatter you see on your windshields.
1. American truck drivers losing their jobs.
2. Increase in drugs activity & illegal aliens set loose in our country.
3. Traffic related deaths.
4. Increased terrorism risk.
Oh, but our lettuce will be cheaper. (ggrrrrrr)
It's the same problem that is facing just about every port on the West Coast of the U.S.
I saw a news piece back in NM about gallon milk jugs used for relief and then tossed on the side of the highway.
The guys who mow the medians and shoulders on the highways (among others) were having issues with this practice, for obvious reasons.
Anyone address this issue?
“According to the American Trucking Association’s new report, US Truck Driver Shortage: Analysis and Forecasts, The long-haul segment of the trucking industry has a national shortage of 20,000 drivers. It predicts the shortage will increase to 111,000 by the year 2014 given the current demographic trends.
Making things even worse is the HIGH turnover rate reported by large carriers to be as high as 121%. There are currently 1.3 million long-haul truckers out of 3.4 million truckers nationwide. The industry as a whole has experienced a shortage of 195,000 in the first quarter of 2005.
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckernews/specialreports/driver.shortage.shtml
Uh... they already do. It's only that now the Teamsters is losing their deathgrip. It just breaks my little heart. [snif]
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