[greg3564]

Once again, the will of the American people and lawmakers is ignored by Bush. This is why I feel many voters are so discouraged with politics.

This Mexican truck program is not to save consumers money, like they would like you to believe. It's here to make the big companies more money. The same companies that have been falsely claiming there's a driver shortage. Funny how they also have Mexican subsidiaries. Some of these same companies the are respected here, like CFI and Schneider.

As a lifelong conservative Republican who voted for Bush twice, I can't wait until he's out of office. He's done more damage to this country and it's people than I care to admit. Not to mention the 3800 American lives he has cost this country. All to settle a score for daddy.

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 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 ensure 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 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.

[Sealord]

It's not about Bush, think NAFTA and former President Clinton. He's the one who signed off on NAFTA. Maybe the Mexican grown fruit and vegetables will be cheaper now. Some Cali growers have already moved south. BOL

[Fozzy]

Jimmy Hoffa? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[greg3564]

Originally Posted by Fozzy

Jimmy Hoffa? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I glad you find it funny that jobs are getting sent across the border. Or do you find it funny that Bush ignored public sentiment AND bi-partisan opposition to this?

[Colts Fan]

You think we have an immigration problem now? When this happens we will surely see a immediate increase of "human" cargo on those Mexican trucks.

[Sheepdancer]

Really, I dont see too many americans against this. The only thing I see is quite a bit of the conspiracy theory crowd making a lot of noise. Even on this board full of truck drivers, maybe 50% are against this.
Reading the facts about this plan instead of the conspiracy websites, it doesnt look like a bad idea. You hear people say things like "this is only going to make the corporations money". Well corporations are owned by the american people...the stock holders. Most people in this country invest. So if the corporations are making more money, most people are making more money.
I dont really see the difference between this and when we started allowing Canadian drivers do the same thing.
I agree, if you are a driver and almost all your freight that you pick up is at the border, this might hurt you. Otherwise, you arent going to even notice. Just like when Canadians started doing the same thing.

[greg3564]

Originally Posted by Fozzy

Jimmy Hoffa? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe you this this info from the Office of Inspector General is funny.

“However, a significant issues with specimen collection remains,” the audit states. “It is not clear as to whether the controls in place ensure that valid specimens are being collected before being sent to a certified laboratory. We found no evidence that collection site concerns have been resolved.”

When the OIG looked at bus operations, inspectors found facilities – specifically mentioning the bus inspection facility in Laredo, TX – as being short on both physical facilities and inspectors.

“Our observations at the Laredo crossing … confirmed the challenge FMCSA faces in screening project participants,” the audit states.

“Specifically, we observed hundreds of vehicles entering the United States at the Laredo crossing each day. FMCSA inspectors selected vehicles for inspection from the line of trucks waiting to cross the border. However, once an inspector selected a vehicle and diverted it for an inspection, no FMCSA personnel remained at the screening point to monitor carrier traffic.”

FMCSA reported to the OIG that Mexico’s Licencia Federal Information System now contains 269,000 valid licenses, 140,000 expired licenses and 9,000 disqualified or restricted licenses. Through April 2006, U.S. federal and state law enforcement officials have accessed LIFIS 19,000 times.

The agency reported that 82 percent of the inquiries returned a valid CDL. Expired and restricted licenses came back in 2 percent of the inquiries.

However, 16 percent of the searches came back “driver not found.”

“We could not determine whether the large percentage of queries to LIFIS that resulted in a response of ‘driver not found’ were due to data entry problems by U.S. users of the system, attempts by Mexican drivers to operate with invalid licenses, incompleteness of the Mexican database, or other unknown reasons,” the OIG audit states.

Yep that's funny. I can't wait for the thousands of Mexican drivers that the U.S. knows NOTHING about to roam freely through the country. Some Jose can drive an 80,000 pound truck anywhere he wants, but I still have to take my shoes off in the airport. The hypocrisy of it all.

[greg3564]

Originally Posted by Sheepdancer

Really, I dont see too many americans against this. The only thing I see is quite a bit of the conspiracy theory crowd making a lot of noise. Even on this board full of truck drivers, maybe 50% are against this.
Reading the facts about this plan instead of the conspiracy websites, it doesnt look like a bad idea. You hear people say things like "this is only going to make the corporations money". Well corporations are owned by the american people...the stock holders. Most people in this country invest. So if the corporations are making more money, most people are making more money.
I dont really see the difference between this and when we started allowing Canadian drivers do the same thing.
I agree, if you are a driver and almost all your freight that you pick up is at the border, this might hurt you. Otherwise, you arent going to even notice. Just like when Canadians started doing the same thing.

The Canadians also have strict requirements for CDL holders and drug testing. Their government is rampant with corruption either. I have no problem with Canadian drivers as they have as good of a training program as we do here in the US. But everyone knows that the Mexican government is corrupt with drug cartels running the politicians. Anybody can be paid off there, including the police.

[Mr. Ford95]

How is Mexico part of NAFTA?? They are in Central America not North America, I don't see no "C" in that NAFTA. North America only compromises of us and Canada and always has.

[Sheepdancer]

I would agree with you about the quality of the mexican trucks and drivers except for one thing. Mexican trucks have already been coming over here for quite a long time and staying within that 20 mile zone. They havent caused any problems at all. The same arguments you see now were all said before that was allowed. None of those things happened.
From what i have read on "official sites" about this plan. Not only will the mexican drivers and their trucks be held to the same standards and laws as our own trucks. 100% of them will be inspected. Just looking at our own trucking companies on SAFESTAT. its scary how many of our own trucks fail inspections and cause accidents on our roadways. Not too mention the recent study I saw that showed 14% of american drivers would fail hair drug tests. The fact that 100% of the mexican trucks are going to be hard core inspected and their drivers looked at, it just might turn out that those mexican trucks might be safer than our own.