President Calderon announces arrest in bombing of US Consulate in Monterrey

Seth, Thanks for the comment, but I am going to have to disagree with you on many of your points, simply because the facts prove otherwise. I never said that the Cross Border Program was good or bad for America. Actually, it has no impact on this country. I am ambivalent to the issue. The reason I put this site together was to expose and debunk the lies the opposition has used to fuel the animosity towards the Mexican drivers. From the majority of your comment, I see you are using the tired, worn out and untrue talking points of OOIDA and others. Let's look at them. 1. The wages paid to Mexican drivers is of no concern to us. It does not effect our wages in the least. For Mexico, a driver earning the equivalent of $.13 to $.15 cents per mile, including the legally mandated per diem of $200 pesos per day, the legally mandated employer contribution into the IMSS fund which gives him retirement benefits and free or reduced cost health care for himself and his family, puts him in the upper middle class status in Mexico. Then you also have the payment mandated by law, to all employees in Mexico of 2 to 4 weeks salary paid around Christmas. The trucking company, in addition to these expenses, must purchase expensive US coverage to be compliant, additional to the coverage the law requires in Mexico. The carrier must also pay road use taxes under IFTA, pay registration fees in Mexico which are extreme, IVA (Value Added Tax) on equipment purchases. In other words, it's a wash. Their costs of operation are very close to ours, if not more. And we won't even get into the cost of money to finance equipment in Mexico, whcih can run from 15-24% for the loan, generally 3 years. The pay may seem sub standard to us, by our economic standards, but it is not in Mexico. 2. The Mexican carriers have indeed shown they can and do supply qualified drivers to haul the freight within the US. The DOT OIG Final report proves that. ZERO accidents and ZERO major safety violations in addition to lower OOS rates for both drivers and vehicles. 3. Again, you are incorrect about the drug test and English proficiency. The drug testing is integrated into the licensing application in Mexico. It is done in a government facility, by government lab techs. They also undergo physical and psychological exams in the same facility. These exams are the same type as airline pilots worldwide are required to pass. That is just to obtain their Licencia Federal. They also have to submit to background checks, provide proof of 40 hours training at a government certified and approved truck driving school (initial application) as well as several other requirements that are not required of US and Canadian drivers. 4. You know, I've lived in Mexico and traveled this country extensively for the past 15 years. My Spanish sucks! But I can communicate. I can also read the language as far as signage and other travel requirements go. The Mexican drivers are tested AT THE BORDER for English proficiency and some are denied entry when they fail. Road signs are road signs, whether they are in Mexico, Canada or the US! Universal signage and it doesn't take an Einstein to figure out what they say. 5. Was your experience with a Mexican driver or a Mexican American driver and do you no the difference? The company I am with has more than 150 drivers and 99% of them are Mexican American. About half of those won't or can't speak English worth a damn, yet they are capable of running 130,000+ miles a year safely. 6. Mexico has a database of it's commercial drivers. A Federal database. The US and Mexico have a combined database of Mexico licensed drivers called, what else MDLIS (Mexican Drivers License Information System) similar to CDLIS here. Mexico's medical standards exceed ours at the moment, although if the combining of the CDL and DOT Medical card happens as proposed, we'll be on track with Mexico. As far as HOS standards. Canadian HOS standards are more liberal than ours. Mexico's HOS standards are much more restrictive. But when Mexican and Canadian drivers cross our borders, they operate under our rules, our regs and our HOS rules. There are no exceptions. All the "what if's" and other assumptions and accusations being made about Mexican drivers, without substantive proof, can also be made about the Canadians. And if you are a driver, as I am, then you know as well as anybody, that the best enforcement of HOS is ones own body! I still do 1000 miles days on occasion, and pay for it the rest of the week, but we can't run without sleep or rest like some assume. In the end, there is relatively little difference between you and me, our Canadian and Mexican brothers. We're doing a job that's not fun any more with all the anal bullshit coming from FMCSA and other enforcement agencies and we all just want to get out, get the job done and get home to our families. I'm sure we can agree with one another on that.

No all Quebequas(French Canadians) speak English, they dont have to take English classes to drive in the US or anglo Canada, they drive freely in the whole US, come on guys don't put the language as a rule... Who do you think negotiate(good or bad) the wages in the USA and Canada??? the corporations??? ARE THE TRADE UNIONS, Canada has even better wages than the US cause their Unions are stronger. We need as simple as that CONTINENTAL TRADE UNIONS to move freely in the whole continent, in the same way that Corporations are already doing since 20 years ago. Who do you think will protect your interest as a citizen? Wall Street? if you think that I recommend you to go and check your retirement savings and pension...