Hoffa Denounces Bush's Illegal, Unsafe Mexican Truck Program

[cal04]

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said today that the Bush administration shows how little it cares about homeland security by opening our southern border to uninspected Mexican trucks.

"The Bush administration has sucker punched American workers by opening our highways to dangerous trucks," Hoffa told about 1,000 Teamster women and guests attending the union's annual Teamster Women's Conference at the Hilton- Americas Houston Hotel.

"We don't know who these drivers are and we don't know what they're bringing in," Hoffa said. "The weapons of mass destruction George Bush is looking for could be in the backs of these trucks."

(snip)
"The Teamsters are going to stop this madness," Hoffa said. "We're going to stop George Bush."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20070908/pl_usnw/hoffa_denounces_bush_s_illegal__unsafe_mexican_truck_program

[valerief]

1. Afghanistan's bumper crop! nt

[napi21]

2. So WHAT are they going to do? I heard a retired Teamsters

guy on the radio yesterday say that in the old days, the Teamsters would have blocked all trucks from moving and brought a stop to all truck transportation until the Gov't paid attention to them ans stopped this insanity. They talked about how the French do this all the time, and they litterally bring the Country to a stop! Where the hell are these activists NOW?

[CanSocDem]

4. You'd be surprised....

...at how UN-organized and a-political truck drivers are in NA. The industry keeps them that way.

.

[KittyWampus]

5. With Hoffa's help. He's in bed with the NeoCons.

[CountAllVotes]

6. my grandfather was a teamster

he was one of the first members of the Teamster's Union after WWI. He was in all of those awful strikes and fights, etc.

He was a fighter, believe me. I am glad he is not around to see this as he was a member of the Teamster's Union for about 50 years.

I hope that Jimmy Hoffa is able to rally up the teamsters and get them outraged enough to do what needs to be done (stop these trucks from coming into the USA with whatever might be in them along with the crappy old trucks themselves which are literally falling apart!).

:kick:

[napi21]

7. Yep, they're falling apart, even if they look OK from the outside.

I've heard from quite a few truckers who said when their rig gets too old, and too expensive to repaiar and keep in compliance with the US laws, they sell it to someone in MEXICO! Then they buy a new one for several hundred thousand $$!

I'll tall ya, I'd like to send Shrub to live in Mexico since he thinks everything is so great there!

[CountAllVotes]

8. my grandfather

He was known to arrive home during the Great Depression with a bloodied leg of lamb slung over his shoulder. He wouldn't have stood for this for ONE MINUTE! He would have been out there on a picket line at the border, leg of lamb in hand!

:grr:

NOT THAT I BLAME HIM ONE BIT!!!

[snappyturtle]

3. The following completes the picture a bit more:

-snip-
From an article by James Hoffa

"We've battled for the safe implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement since the bill's passage in 1993. NAFTA requires that Mexico meet U.S. standards—but the Bush administration doesn't. Until Thursday, the border had remained closed because the Mexican government has failed to meet safety and driver-training requirements required by Congress.

In August, the Department of Transportation's inspector general reported several glaring safety issues concerning the state of trucking in Mexico. Drug testing is questionable, in fact there are no certified drug testing facilities in the entire country. And, due to lax wage and hour laws, drivers can be forced to make lengthy deliveries. Records of Mexican truckers' traffic convictions are poor, so citations may or may not be available to U.S. police. Checks of the validity of Mexican commercial drivers' licenses against Mexico's database result in a failure rate of nearly 20 percent—one in five licenses that are invalid or simply not listed. Despite promises otherwise, U.S. inspectors won't be able to inspect trucks each time they cross the border.

While these serious problems persist, what's most disingenuous about Bush's plan is that it begins with a bait-and-switch that ensures that only the best Mexican carriers enter our country. You can't cherry-pick the safest trucks in Mexico and let them drive all over the U.S. for a year and then claim that all Mexican trucks are fit to drive. This plan's catalyst is the Bush administration's willingness to appease corporations' thirst for exploitable labor. Not only are Mexican truckers, on average, paid significantly less per hour than their American counterparts, they do not enjoy the same work-hour service protections and can be forced to drive longer hours."

-snip-


Click Op's yahoo link.....find link to teamsters.org in article for more.