Allowing Mexican trucks delayed (Emergency injunction lawsuit by Teamsters)

[seafan]

Source: San Diego Union-Tribune

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation has delayed plans to open the border to long-haul Mexican trucks until at least Thursday, after earlier reports that it could happen over Labor Day weekend.
In a filing yesterday in the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, government attorneys said the agency expects to get the OK from its inspector general on Wednesday that would allow it to begin the controversial cross border trucking experiment.

The agency “anticipates that the program will not begin before Thursday,” the U.S. Justice Department said in its response to a Teamsters union lawsuit that seeks an emergency injunction to block the border opening.

Attorneys for both sides said last night they had no indication of how soon the court might act.

.....

The Bush administration is pushing to start the experiment as soon as possible as a step toward a wider opening of the border to commercial traffic, as required in the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Critics, including several trucking and safety organizations and dozens of lawmakers, complain the administration has failed to guarantee the trucks will be safe.

.....

Read more: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20070831-9999-1b31mextruck.html

[OhioChick]

1. Good.

Go Teamsters! :applause:

K&R
:kick:

[bahrbearian]

2. Repel NAFTA

[seafan]

3. The US House voted to curb this program in May! The Decider doesn't care.

From the Houston Chronicle:

By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT and JENALIA MORENO
August 29, 2007

.....

But Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, and others in Congress said they remain concerned.
"I would hope that President Bush would reconsider what he's doing," said Lampson, who serves on the House Transportation Committee.
"We need to place the safety of Texans as high as we possibly can place this, and doing this, I think, takes some chances."
Lampson also argued that national security could be affected if the government doesn't inspect all incoming cargo.

With the House having voted overwhelmingly last May to curb the scope of the trucking pilot program, the Teamsters say they will seek additional congressional action if the 9th Circuit doesn't grant the emergency injunction.

The inspector general's audit could give fodder to critics on Capitol Hill.

Investigators noted problems with the database used to check Mexican drivers' records for traffic convictions in the United States — largely because Texas and New Mexico didn't properly report driver convictions to the federal 52nd State System that tracks Mexican drivers.
The audit noted that Texas stopped sharing conviction information with the database in 2006 — an oversight federal officials didn't notice until the inspector general brought it to their attention. New Mexico's data wasn't entered because of incorrect coding, the audit found. Since then, almost half of the Texas backlog of 40,000 Mexican driver convictions has been cleared, the report said.

.....

Even as haggling continues over the cross-border trucking program, some Mexican trucking company officials say it's the politicians — not they — who are interested in opening the border.

"We don't want to go to the United States, and the Americans don't want to go to Mexico," said Rolando Ortega, a delegate from the Matamoros, Mexico, chapter of the National Confederation of Mexican Carriers, which has 280,000 members. "It doesn't reflect the reality of the transportation industry."
Mexican trucking companies that deliver to the U.S. border zone already are struggling with rising insurance rates, longer lines to cross into the U.S. and a lack of credit to buy trucks, said Ortega, who owns 18 trucks.

Only large carriers will haul cargo from Houston to Hidalgo or Memphis to Monterrey, some Mexican trucking company executives say.
"The only companies that want to do that are the trans- national companies and the companies that move their own cargo," said Oscar Garza, a delegate for the Reynosa chapter of the confederation of Mexican carriers.

Many Mexican truckers cannot read signs in English, are unfamiliar with the U.S. highway system and don't know how to find cargo in the U.S. for their return trip to Mexico, said Garza, who once owned 35 trucks and now only has one because of decreased profitability.

So Chertoff insists that WE have passports?

How will we know how many hours these truckers are forced to drive before resting? This will be the cause of many accidents.

What about certification of these drivers?

What about checking all of the cargo before entering the US highway system?

What about the chances of drug smuggling or human trafficking?


This will depress wages and will bleed even more jobs away from American truckers.


And what about the blatant end-run around our West Coast Union workers, when all of the cheap cargo from China is off-loaded at ports on the west coast of Mexico, bypassing US western ports? That's what this is really about--- busting those Republican-hated unions!


And DON'T FORGET, the House ALREADY VOTED OVERWHELMINGLY last May to curb the scope of the trucking pilot program. But does Bush care? HELL NO!

The Decider Does What He Wants.


IMPEACH, CONVICT AND IMPRISON THIS IMPOSTOR AND HIS PUPPETEERS, AND DO IT NOW.

[Nite Owl]

4. What's this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2974098


Are they being allowed or not?

[seafan]

5. This is the court ruling everyone was on hold for.... but no trucks until next Thursday, at earliest

The trucks were originally supposed to come into the US tomorrow (Saturday), so this was a few days' reprieve.


And now, the court has ruled tonight for Bu$hCo.

The Teamsters vow to keep fighting this in Congress. (See post #3 above)

[Nite Owl]

8. Ok so they can't come through this

weekend but maybe, probably next Thursday?

[seafan]

11. Yes, next Thursday, unless the Teamsters, Public Citizen & Environmental Law Foundation and Sierra

Club can force action in Congress next week to halt it.

This would be a good time to pester our Congress members. Remember, they already voted in May to curb this pilot program, but Bush is completely steamrolling them. Congress is irrelevant unless they stand up to this charlatan.


From what I've read, this will be the third time the Teamsters have had to fight this same issue, because Republicans just will not let it go. They hate our Unions, don't-cha know.


And it is par for the course that Bush waits for Congress to go on vacation in the doldrums of August, and on the eve of a long Labor Day weekend to try to force this through while he thinks no one is looking.


This is a slap in the face to working Americans.

Let's give the Union guys some support by contacting our Congress members this weekend!

[AzDar]

6. Honestly to Gawd, I'm truly beginning to believe that Bush/Cheney are trying to kill us all!

Goddamn! Can't Congress DO something to stop these criminals????

[Divine Discontent]

7. hearty K&R # 5 go teamsters! n/t

[alittlelark]

9. A short reprieve.... hopefully made permanent.

I've talked about this w/ quite a few people - most have NO IDEA what is going on. Once they find out they are totally against Mexican trucks.

[alittlelark]

10. This story, also on the 'Greatest' page

Is a propaganda wipe on the ruling....


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Mexican_Trucks.html



<edited for freeper spelling>

[Gregorian]

12. Does anyone dare to make a connection between this and illegal immigration?

I know they're two separate issues. But two things strike me odd about this whole thing. I've always assumed that illegal immigration is about race. And about Mexicans in particular. Second, I am guessing these truckers are not US citizens.

So why would Bush, or any other Conservative, be at all willing to even entertain this act of allowing Mexican truckers across the border?

It is just plain weird.

[gateley]

15. Thanks for the reminder to contact our Congressman -- I just did.

[Suich]

16. Hi gately!!!

Welcome to DU!

:party: :bounce: :toast: :bounce: :party:

[Gregorian]

18. YAY!

How cool that you found this place.

All aboard!

[seafan]

20. Welcome to DU, gateley! Glad you've joined us. n/t

[Suich]

17. I'm with you...

it feels like there's something else going on but I have no idea what it is!

:shrug:

[seafan]

19. It's the *watch this hand over here* trick.

The reasons Bush *Likes* illegal immigration:


1. Lower wages paid to illegal immigrants will drive down wages for American workers (We'll be even poorer..) Bush's corporate buddies can pocket the savings.

2. No accountability for ruthless employers when they intimidate and enforce substandard wages and working conditions, with the constant veiled threat of exposure of workers to immigration officials, to keep the workers *in line*.

3. Continuous civil unrest in our country, as it pits Mexican workers against American workers. Bush loves to sneer at Americans who 'won't take these jobs.' Less than a living wage means nothing to Bush.

4. This is all part of the North American Union plan, that will dissolve our borders with Mexico and Canada, and nullifying our nation's governmental structure permanently.

5. If *something* is smuggled into this country that harms a large number of people, Bush can enact his National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive Number 51, to dissolve our government, and assume absolute control over the country.

6. It helps Bush bust the West Coast Unions, as cheap Chinese imports will be offloaded at Mexican ports and trucked into the US and into Canada, unchecked and without accountability, thereby further weakening our national security and destroying Union jobs.

7. Bush uses *illegal immigration* against Americans as a *boogeyman* to incite anxiety, fear and mistrust of people from Mexico, who, like us, want to make a living wage, raise healthy families and live in peace. Bush wants all of us to hate each other, so we will not rise and unite against The Corporations.

8. The part of Bush's base with all the money is the group for whom Bush will keep the spigot of illegal immigration pouring full blast. The rest of us just get the rhetoric around election time.




The reasons Bush *Dislikes* illegal immigration:



<<<<<crickets>>>>>



He doesn't care.... he'll be in Paraguay, cavorting with Reverend Moon and Poppy.

[PsN2Wind]

13. As some one that will have to share I-19

with them on my weekly trip to Tucson, I'm glad for any delay and hope it's permanent.

[orleans]

14. the sierra club was with the teamsters on this although i'm not sure if they

were a party to the lawsuit

[defendandprotect]

21. Here in NJ, all of our local streets were opened to truck traffic 3 or 4 years ago -- and . . . .

I'll call Congress or use websites to comment on this --

but . . . . re NJ . . . .

it's resulted in some really weird things happening -- plus very congested streets.

Our town built some really freakish "jut-outs" and slow down "bumps" trying to keep trucks
off town streets.

Filth and congestion ---and our own NJ legislature did this to us!!!

[fasttense]

22. So, is anyone else confused?

So this was posted a few minutes later by rodeodance:

Last updated August 31, 2007 6:28 p.m. PT
Court: Mexican trucks program to proceed

By JORDAN ROBERTSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Bush administration can go ahead with a pilot program to allow as many as 100 Mexican trucking companies to freely haul their cargo anywhere within the U.S. for the next year, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request made by the Teamsters union, the Sierra Club and the nonprofit Public Citizen to halt the program.

The appeals court ruled the groups have not satisfied the legal requirements to immediately stop what the government is calling a "demonstration project," but can continue to argue their case.

The trucking program is scheduled to begin Thursday.


Read more: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Mexican_T...

So how can they be waiting for the court, when according to the AP the court has already denied the request?

[1776Forever]

23. Yes I sure am confused too - link to Court refuses to halt plan to allow long-distance Mexican truc

By Paul M. Krawzak
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20070831-1812-bn31truck.html

6:14 p.m. August 31, 2007

WASHINGTON – A federal appellate court on Friday refused to temporarily block an administration plan to allow Mexican trucks to roam freely throughout the United States beginning next week. WASHINGTON – A federal appellate court on Friday refused to temporarily block an administration plan to allow Mexican trucks to roam freely throughout the United States beginning next week.


AdvertisementThe decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means nothing stands in the way of plans to begin a controversial pilot program – possibly as early as Thursday – to test the safety of Mexican trucks on U.S. highways.
The Teamsters union and several other groups opposed to the border opening filed suit Wednesday to block the program, which the groups claim does not fully comply with congressional requirements.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco disagreed. In a brief order released shortly before the court closed for the Labor Day weekend, a three-judge panel said the request for an emergency motion was denied.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said earlier this week it expects to open the border to long haul Mexican truck traffic as soon as Thursday.

[seafan]

24. Two separate events occurred:

And they happened within hours if not minutes of each other. That's what is confusing people.



The first sentence in the opening post:

First---->>

The U.S. Department of Transportation has delayed plans to open the border to long-haul Mexican trucks until at least Thursday, after earlier reports that it could happen over Labor Day weekend.

The initial delay of 5 additional days to begin this pilot project was due to the actions of the Department of Transportation.




Second---->> Then, the Court soon followed with their ruling on the emergency injunction that the Teamsters. etc were seeking to halt the pilot program itself. This is the ruling that allows the pilot project to proceed.

(And because of the Dept of Transportation's decision, the Mexican trucks will enter the US this coming Thursday, September 6, 2007.)



Interestingly, the Court is allowing the Teamsters, etc., to continue to argue their case.

[Marrah_G]

25. Good

This will destroy our shipping industry from the truckers to the longshoremen. Why pay union wages when you can have it shipped to Mexico for 1/10th the cost and then ship it anywhere in America paying Mexican trucking wages.

There would be no reason to ship to our ports.

The destruction of the middle class. Soon we will be a total serf/lord country again and we will have to refight the fight the unions won for us.

[seafan]

26. Ed Schultz is ranting about this right now. It is truly shameful what The Corporations are doing.

And those unchecked, unregulated trucks are set to roll deeply into the US 2 days from now.

Why aren't the Democrats SCREAMING ABOUT THIS??? It's happening in real time, right under their noses.


Do you suppose The Corporate Media is burying this until it will be too late?