The Teamsters, Public Citizen and Sierra Club have filed suit to block Mexican trucks from operating in the United States. Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa says – opening the border to these dangerous, dirty trucks is an attack on highway safety, an attack on American truckers and warehouse workers, an attack on border security and an attack on our environment.
In July, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood authorized an 18-month pilot program allowing Mexican trucks to enter the U.S. from approved companies. The suit says the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration didn’t follow several laws in setting up the program. The suit says the U.S. waived a law that trucks must display certain proof that they meet federal safety standards and ignored a law requiring the pilot program to achieve an equivalent level of safety because Mexican drivers don’t have to meet the same physical requirements as U.S. drivers.
Hoffa says, – it’s outrageous enough that we’ve outsourced millions of jobs to foreign countries, but now we’re bringing foreign workers across the border into the United States to take our jobs. Some estimates suggest up to 100-thousand U.S. trucking jobs could be lost if Mexican trucks get full access to U.S. highways.
