Hoffa Praises Senate For Blocking Mexican Truck Program

Dorgan-Specter Amendment Blocks Funding for Bush Administration Pilot Program

September 11, 2007

(Washington, D.C.) – Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa on Tuesday praised the U.S. Senate for voting overwhelmingly to slam the door on the Bush administration's illegal, reckless plan to open our border to trucks from Mexico.

The Senate on Tuesday voted 74-24 to block funding for the pilot program, mirroring the House vote on July 24. The measure was an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2008 Transportation Appropriations bill. It was sponsored by Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-ND, and Arlen Specter, R-PA.

"The American people have spoken, and Congress has spoken," Hoffa said. "Now it's time for the Bush administration to listen. We don't want to share our highways with dangerous trucks from Mexico."

"On the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, I'm sure every American is relieved that the Senate voted to make sure that potential threats to national security aren't allowed to travel freely on our highways," Hoffa said.

The Senate action followed the tragic truck explosion that killed more than 30 people and injured 150 in Northern Mexico on Sunday.

The Teamsters have long fought against the cross-border trucking program. On August 30, a federal judge denied the Teamsters' motion for an emergency injunction to halt the program while its lawsuit is being argued.

The Teamsters' brief in the case is due on Nov. 19 before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The government's brief is due Dec. 17.

"Since Congress has only blocked funding for a year, the Teamsters will continue the fight against this unwise, unsafe program," Hoffa said.

Hoffa noted that the first truck to travel beyond the safety zone in Laredo, Texas, delivered steel in North Carolina. "Hasn't North Carolina suffered enough from the effects of these so-called free-trade agreements?" Hoffa said.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking women and men in North America.

 

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Mexico trucks to roll on U.S. highways Sat Sep 1, 2007 11:44AM EDT   WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration can proceed with a plan to open the U.S. border to long haul Mexican trucks as early as next week after an appeals court rejected a bid by labor, consumer and environmental interests to block the initiative. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco late on Friday denied an emergency petition sought by the Teamsters union, the Sierra Club and consumer group Public Citizen to halt the start of a one-year pilot program that was approved by Congress after years of legal and political wrangling. The Transportation Department welcomed the decision and said in a statement that allowing more direct shipments from Mexico will benefit U.S. consumers. The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement approved broader access for ground shipments from both countries but the Clinton administration never complied with the trucking provision. A special tribunal ordered the Bush administration to do so in 2001. "This is the wrong decision for working men and women," Jim Hoffa, president of the Teamsters, said in a statement after the court ruling. "We believe this program clearly breaks the law." The Teamsters represents truckers that would be affected by the change. The emergency stay was sought on grounds the administration's pilot program had not satisfied the U.S. Congress' requirements on safety and other issues. But the appeals court ruled otherwise. SAFETY ASPECTS The administration plans to start the program on September 6. Transportation Department officials hope to receive final clearance early next week from the department's inspector general's office, which is reviewing its safety aspects, and finalize details with Mexican authorities. The Mexican government must grant reciprocal access to U.S. trucks under NAFTA. That provision is not expected to be a problem, regulators said. Mexican trucks operating in the United States have for years been restricted to U.S. points near certain large border crossings where their goods are transferred to trucks owned by U.S. firms. Under the pilot program, Mexican long haul trucking companies that have met safety, licensing, and other U.S. requirements will be allowed to operate their rigs throughout the country. Proponents say this will reduce costs and speed up shipments. Trucking regulators said in a court filing the goal is to gradually accommodate 100 Mexican trucking companies by the end of the pilot program, or roughly 540 large trucks. But opponents said those figures do not reflect the number of companies that could seek access to U.S. roads if the pilot is successful, which they said raises safety concerns. "This (pilot) program is basically a show trial. They haven't provided notice up front about who will participate. You just don't know what the program will look like," said Bonnie Robin-Vergeer, attorney for Public Citizen. Public Citizen and the Teamsters still plan to proceed with a lawsuit they filed in federal court, challenging the Mexican truck program on broader grounds. That case will not likely be decided until next year. Trucks from Canada have no operating restrictions in the United States. (Reporting by John Crawley) Teamsters to Try to Block Mexican Trucks By JESSE J. HOLLAND, AP Labor Writer Wednesday, August 29, 2007 (08-29) 16:55 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) -- The Teamsters Union said Wednesday it will ask a federal appeals court to block the Bush administration's plan to allow Mexican trucks to carry cargo anywhere in the United States. The union said it has been told by officials in the Transportation Department's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that the first Mexican trucks will be coming across the border on Saturday. Teamsters leaders said they planned to seek an emergency injunction Wednesday from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. "What a slap in the face to American workers, opening the highways to dangerous trucks on Labor Day weekend, one of the busiest driving weekends of the year," said Teamsters President Jim Hoffa. Joining the Teamsters in seeking the emergency stay were the Sierra Club and Public Citizen. "Before providing unconditional access throughout the country to tens of thousands of big rigs we know little to nothing about, we must insure they meet safety and environmental standards," Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope said. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, in a statement, said: "we believe this lawsuit is without merit and that our program will benefit consumers by reducing the costly practice of requiring all cross-border shipments to be hauled by three separate trucks operated by three different drivers and provide U.S. trucking companies the opportunity to expand their business into our nation's third largest trading partner." The Bush administration said last week it would start the cross-border program once the Transportation Department's inspector general certifies safety and inspection plans. Leslie Miller, a Teamsters spokeswoman, said attorneys for the federal truck safety agency advised the union's lawyers that they expect to get that certification on Friday. She said the Teamsters also were told by the agency attorneys that limited authority for trucks to begin crossing the border will be approved Saturday. The Teamsters got a powerful labor ally in its protest. AFL-CIO president John Sweeney said in a news conference "the real issue there is the situation of safety and how this involves the delivery of food or product of Mexico to United States and vice versa. "It's an ongoing dispute and we don't think the Mexican government is enforcing their laws in that situation," said Sweeney in support of the Teamsters, who left the AFL-CIO to join a rival labor federation in 2005. "I think the Teamsters are taking the lead in this situation and rightly so deserve support." Supporters of the plan say letting more Mexican trucks on U.S. highways will save American consumers hundreds of millions of dollars. Labor and driver-owner groups have been fighting the measure — part of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement — since it was first proposed, saying the program will erode highway safety and eliminate U.S. jobs. A one-year demonstration project would allow 100 Mexican motor carriers full access to U.S. roads. It can begin as soon as the inspector general certifies that safety and inspection plans and facilities are sufficient to ensure the Mexican trucks are as safe as U.S. trucks. Since 1982, Mexican trucks have had to stop within a buffer border zone and transfer their loads to U.S. trucks.

Teamsters, Environmental  And Safety Groups File Suit to Block Mexican Trucks From Entering United States

4/24/2007- Several labor and environmental groups said Tuesday they have asked a federal court in California to block a U.S. DOT plan that would allow up to a hundred Mexican-based trucking companies to operate unrestricted throughout the United States.

The Teamsters Union, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, The Sierra Club, Public Citizen and the Environmental Law Foundation, as well as Brotherhood of Teamsters Auto and Truck Drivers Local 70, have filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco-Oakland Division against the DOT and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, alleging that the plan is illegal because federal officials have not sufficiently notified the public and allowed the properly-mandated time for public comment.

The groups also argue that allowing Mexican trucks to operate in the United States, beyond the restricted commercial zone near the border where they are currently allowed, would create safety and environmental problems.

 "The Bush administration is ignoring the American people in it's blind zeal to open our borders to unsafe Mexican trucks," Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa said in a prepared statement. "This reckless pilot program must be stopped and the driving public protected." Under a one-year pilot program announced by Transportation Secretary Mary Peters in February, up to one hundred Mexican trucking companies would be allowed to operate in the United States, once they pass safety inspections by U.S. inspectors, obtain insurance from a U.S.-licensed firm and demonstrate they can understand questions and directions in English, among other requirements.

“We have strongly opposed this program since first introduced, and in particular, the secretive nature in which it has been presented by the DOT,” said Owner-Operators and Independent Drivers Association Executive Vice President Todd Spencer.

“The DOT has still not answered questions about verification of drivers’ records, drug and alcohol testing, hours of service, cabotage, inspections and insurance. They make general statements about audits of Mexican motor carriers, but have shown nothing that should make the American public feel confident that they have fulfilled all the obligations necessary before moving forward.”

Peters said then that the first trucks to pass the inspections could enter the United States within 60 days, or by late April. "The Mexican trucking demonstration program will bring real benefits and real dollars to the American economy while maintaining all U.S. safety and security standards," the department said in a released statement in March.

Officials for both departments named in the lawsuit have declined comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit asks the court to require the Transportation Department and the FMCSA to either provide greater information about the program and an opportunity for public comment, or to shut the program down.

The legal complaint is the latest chapter in a long-running dispute over the operation of Mexican trucks in the United States. Under the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, trucks from Canada, Mexico and the United States were supposed to be able to operate in all three countries, but the issue of Mexican trucks in the United States has been tied up in litigation for years.

Currently, Mexican trucks have to unload their cargo at or near the U.S. border, where it is then picked up by U.S. trucks, a process that Peters has said "is a waste of time, energy and money."

Transportation officials said in February that in return for the pilot program, U.S. trucks would be able to operate in Mexico, where they have been barred in retaliation for the restrictions on Mexican trucks in the United States.

On another note, Mexico's Senate plans to ask the Mexican government to delay until July a pilot program that would allow Mexican trucks into the U.S. and U.S. trucks into Mexico, the Communications and Transport Ministry said Monday. The ministry said in a press release that Communications and Transport Minister Luis Tellez will channel the petitions from the Senate and trucking organizations to the U.S. government.

Mexican truckers are concerned that their U.S. counterparts will have an advantage when they're allowed into Mexico six months later.

The pilot program has also encountered opposition in the U.S. Congress. A Senate panel voted last month to require the administration to delay the program by publishing additional information about it and allowing public comment. Congress is considering a provision in an emergency spending bill that would block funding for the program until Mexican trucking companies meet congressionally mandated safety and security standards—which they have been unable to do for years.

The pending bill also would require that U.S. trucks have equal access to Mexican roads and mandate that the project comply with federal law governing pilot programs. A bill by Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., would enact similar requirements. That measure was included in legislation that would provide supplemental funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has not yet passed Congress.

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