James Hoffa and his Teamsters have filed yet another frivolous lawsuit in an attempt to stop the US compliance with our NAFTA obligation and promises
At the 11th hour today, Teamsters, along with Public Citizen filed a lawsuit in 9th Circuit Court in San Francisco seeking to stop implementation of the Mexican Cross Border Program.
The suit was filed against the US Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration alleging that the pilot program sets standards that aren’t stringent enough for Mexican trucks and drivers. For example, the program waives a law requiring trucks to display proof of meeting federal safety standards, said Jonathan Weissglass, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
An official for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said the Teamsters haven’t directly served the agency with a lawsuit. Once they do, the agency “will review and address the filing,” she said, adding that the pilot program will begin within 30 to 60 days. The official declined to address the substance of the suit.
U.S. officials have said the deal would hold Mexican truckers to high safety standards, and business groups have said it is important to make a deal with Mexico because the retaliatory tariffs are costing the U.S. jobs.
The arguments laid out in the complaint are faulty at best. For instance, The Teamsters allege the trucker program is faulty because it contains certain standards that are impossible for Mexico to meet. Mexico won’t be able to provide comparable access to U.S. trucks, as required, because ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel isn’t widely enough available there.
Ultra Low Sulfur diesel is widely available in the major cities and along the border, however the argument is moot as the routes US truckers are likely to take would put them well within range of their diesel capacity filled on the US side.
They also claim that Mexican truckers have less stringent vision requirements, which while true, is really a non issue. Mexico requires only recognition of the color “Red” while US vision requirements require cognizant recognition of red, yellow and green.
That’s all we know at the moment. Apparently, the comment at the conclusion of the MCSAC subcommittee by attorney Carlos Sesmas enraged the little man sufficiently to cause this frivolous lawsuit to be filed.
Public Citizen and the Teamsters went before the court in 2007 over the Mexican truck issue, joined by the Sierra Club and OOIDA. Even using false and misleading evidence (ie: Trinity Industries), the court dismissed the lawsuit.
We imagine that will be the case this time.
Mexican cross border hauler checking through security
We’ve had a weekend since Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood released the “Concept Document” enabling the United States to finally uphold their obligations under the NAFTA agreement.
Reaction has been overwhelmingly positive to the release of the plan with opposition coming from the usual irrelevant sources, as predicted.
Immediately, the opposition chimed in citing job losses, unsafe trucks, and a variety of other baseless assumptions. Baseless because in the 15 years of opposition to allowing Mexican carriers to operate in this country, OOIDA and the TEAMSTERS have offered no concrete evidence to back up their claims. Why? Because none exists.
There does exist data that thoroughly debunks their claims of job losses and Mexican carriers coming in and undercutting US Truckers.
THE MYTH THAT MEXICAN TRUCKS WILL COST AMERICANS JOBS
Numbers don’t lie. According to FMCSA Summary Statistics for U.S. DOT Active Motor Carriers these numbers show how it is statistically and logically impossible for Mexican carriers to have any impact on US truckers jobs.
Active Carriers with U.S. DOT Number
| United States |
Mexico |
Canada |
| 717,919 |
15,193 |
22948 |
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It didn’t take long for the opponents of Mexican trucks, or for that matter, anything Mexican to come out with their discredited rants opposing the US fulfilling its obligation to allow Mexican trucks access to US roadways in the same manner Canadian trucks have been allowed for more than 10 years.
Teamster President James Hoffa was the first out of the chute with his tired sophomoric and overused rhetoric.
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One of the nation’s oldest and most corrupt labor unions is praising new, bipartisan legislation that would withdraw the United States from NAFTA, and vanquish one of the biggest enemies of American organized labor for more than 15 years.
A small but broad coalition of lawmakers from across the political spectrum came together last Thursday to sponsor a bill to repeal U.S. participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The trade agreement by the United States, Canada and Mexico, NAFTA eliminated tarrifs and other trade restrictions that had been in place. The deal was originally negotiated during the term of president George H.W. Bush. Bill Clinton later embraced it over the objections of many Democratic allies, including organized labor. Clinton, in fact, had to rely on Republican votes in Congress to pass the legislation that ratified the treaty.
Their legislation would repeal the approval of NAFTA and instructs the president to notify Canada and Mexico of the U.S. withdrawal from the treaty. It has been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee for further consideration. The drive to repeal NAFTA outright also is a change in itself, where previously lawmakers had sought mostly just to reform the agreement.
One can just see the sleezy hand of James Hoffa behind this. If it passes, it has to go to the President for his signature. Fat chance and fat chance of anything before the mid terms.
MORE ON THE ISSUE
Should Democrats Stop Bashing NAFTA
We must repeal NAFTA
SCOTT LINCICOME, an International trade attorney, published author, political adviser and frustrated libertarian had this assessment of the current state of the dispute between the US and Mexico over the illegal ban on Mexican trucks.
Quoting an article from “INSIDE TRADE”, a subscription industry publication:
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The debate over Mexican trucks is back and becoming heated as the opponents resort to the same tired rhetoric that has been debunked time and again. This time, we believe the outcome will be different
The Obama administration has taken the first step toward renewing a pilot program that allows Mexican?truckers to operate within the U.S., as stipulated in the North American Free Trade Agreement, but still must work with Congress on fashioning a new program, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Tuesday.
U.S.Trade Representative Ron Kirk told a news conference in Mexico last week that the Obama administration had taken the first step in coming up with a new program when it convinced Congress not to prohibit a cross-border program in the 2010 omnibus spending bill.
With that being said, the mexenophobes are beginning to come out from under their rocks. Some, such as Teamster’s Jimmy Hoffa, using the same old tired and debunked rhetoric that he’s spewed for the past 18 years.
Others, such as OOIDA, seems to have largely abandoned the misinformation about the safety concerns and are now attacking the tariffs, and a report last year concerning the C-TPAT program.
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