8:00 AM this morning 450 Teamsters arrived at the Federal Courthouse in San Francisco, Ca. To rally against the NAFTA Mexican domiciled vehicle pilot program, which would allow trucks to venture the country while not adhering to US transportation laws. Did I mention the imminent job losses to American citizens, looking ahead I can see every grocery store and supply house in this country picking up and going directly to Mexico, the writings on the wall. You can see the last story I wrote covering the Fire Mary Peters campaign and some background to this story which I have been covering over the past 8 months. Check out:

Teamsters hit airwaves to fire Sec.Of Transportation Mary Peters for putting US citizens lives at risk

Then read the next one and consider how eager the company mentioned would be to move directly to Mexico, what would the stores have to do, order a day earlier?

NY: Waldbaum's and A&P screwing 400 local employees and moving to nonunion facilities

Think of all the distributors here in the city and surrounding area, think of all those warehouse jobs, those workers who would be displaced.

It will happen, you can help stop it, spread the word, sign the E-Active message at FireMaryPeters.com that goes directly to your Representatives inbox

Grabbed this story directly from the Teamster's, You can view the original at any of the links below:
1) http://www.firemarypeters.com. 2) http://www.teamsterpower.com

Standing Together Is The Most Powerful Thing There Is

The Teamsters woke San Francisco today with a rock ‘em, sock ‘em rally against open borders to unsafe trucks from Mexico.

They began to arrive at dawn, on streetcar and in semis, on bicycles and on foot, on motorcycles and buses. By 8 a.m., 450 Teamsters stretched the length of the city block in front of the federal courthouse. There the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals would soon hear the case against Transportation Secretary Mary Peters’ cross-border truck pilot program.

Seven Teamster trucks circled the block and blared their air horns as Teamsters cheered and chanted “We Are Teamsters!” and “Fire Mary Peters!”

A constant tattoo of horns came from the streetcars, buses, trucks and cars in the traffic that flowed in front of the rally. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” said a Federal Protective officer.

“I’m exuberant,” said Paul Faaola, a rank-and-file member of local 85 in San Francisco. “This just cause I believe the Teamsters Union was made for.”

Local 287 President Bob Blanchet – who had put his heart and soul into organizing the action – beamed throughout the rally. That is, when he wasn’t shouting into a bullhorn.

International President Chuck Mack revved up the crowd from atop a flatbed truck parked in front of the courthouse. “Mary Peters must be fired!” he shouted to cheers. “The only problem is George Bush is her boss. We gotta fire George Bush in November!” he shouted to more cheers.

Tony Gonzalez, secretary-treasurer of local 890 in Salinsa, Calif., told the crowd that Mexican truck drivers oppose the program too. “They fear it will destroy the trucking industry there,” he said. Teamsters waved both Mexican and American flags.

Tears came to the eyes of many Teamsters as David Jennings described how he lost his mother, father and 19-year-old son in a crash caused by a Mexican truck that suffered a catastrophic drive train failure. That failure could have been prevented by a border inspection.

“NAFTA has already compromised our jobs,” he said from the flatbed truck parked outside the court. “NAFTA has already compromised our environment. Now it’s being pushed to compromise our lives.”

Jennings later watched the panel of three judges grill attorneys representing the Teamsters and representing Mary Peters. They will rule later on the case.

Afterward, Paul Faaola reflected on what the rally meant beyond a wake-up call to the City of San Francisco.

“These are the times much harder than for our fathers or their fathers,” he said. “It’s harder to organize. Standing together is the most powerful thing there is.”

To see more images from the rally, please click here.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters launches internet campaign to Stop Unsafe Mexican trucks and the imminent job loss to countless thousands of American workers.When someone dies because of this flagrant ignorance of the will of the American People and the US Congress, Mary Peter's should be held responsible.

*Click above to Get Involved (opens Teamster site)

Myself and other reporter's at UnionReview have been following this story since President Bush, against Congress was going to allow a pilot program starting on, of all days Labor Day in 2007 . according to report's on the matter in a story by Public Citizen:

Congress (2007) this year held hearings examining the plan to allow trucks from Mexico to travel beyond the border zones. Lawmakers uncovered serious safety deficiencies and deemed the pilot program a sham and in violation of existing law. In response, Congress passed a measure designed to ensure that any pilot program does not circumvent safety standards or congressional oversight and that such a program is conducted within strict parameters designed to facilitate informed decision making.

This has been an up and down battle, and we have spent a lot of time gathering information about this situation, you can see our articles with this search of Union Review using the term Mexican Trucks:

According to Richie Negri in his aptly titled "The DOT tells Congress: F**K You! We will do what we want." on 1/4/08:

When Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) authored a provision that scrapped the pilot program allowing Mexican long-haul trucks into the United States, which was then included in the Omnibus Budget Bill that was signed by President Bush just before the Christmas break - that provision became federal law.

Interesting as it is, the Department of Transportation could give a shit about the law and has decided to go forward with its pilot program and ultimately became above the law.

The DOT is playing with the language of the amendment, saying the provision states that funds will not be used to establish a pilot program. So, they say ... We're cool with that because we already have a kick-ass unfair Mexican long-haul trucking program -- we don't need to establish another one.

The Senator is fired up, pissed off and disgusted. He wrote a letter to the DOT blasting them for their ass-backward move, saying, among other things, that the DOT's own Inspector General issued a report stating the pilot program was a disaster.

Working people really need to stand up and be heard on this issue. It is imperative on so many fronts, the least being that if you were to break a federal law, your ass would be in jail, when the DOT breaks the law, the President probably sends off a memo saying "job well done."

There is a whole blog on this issue over at Daily Kos ... please comment here and there, pass this along to everyone you know, and get as fired up as I am right now.

What in fact is the severity of the loophole, the current pilot program in its state violates 7 US laws, just a glance of the Fact or Fiction area of the Teamsters site would make anyone who drives on a road in the US afraid for their life. Trucks would get a typical glance from a US inspectors who are drastically understaffed, according to The Chief, the Civil Service Employee Weekly:

National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen M. Kelley, who represents 20,000 CBP workers, told the House Homeland Security Committee, which assembled in the Texas border town, that staff shortages have forced down morale among employees and adversely affected citizens trying to cross the border.

Thats just one branch of inspectors who inspect people, notice there are quite a few Mexican citizens here in the US, are we to believe that the understaffed vehicle inspectors are able to do much better. The trucks do not have to meet the same safety requirements as US trucks, it's a huge difference. A US truck driver must take a break after 11 hours of driving, a Mexican domiciled vehicle can drive for 10 hours before entering the US, then another 11 in our country. Just that fact alone is enough for the public to be outraged. But theres much more safety concerns, not limited to the two examples above. Please take a look, it's mind boggling.

Even the Mexican truckers do not want this to happen, according to El Financiero:

Mexican truck drivers believe it will destroy the Mexican trucking industry.

Elias Dip Rame, president of the Mexican National Truck Drivers Federation, told a reporter, "This program really hurts the trucking industry, this famous pilot plan, where the borders are opened, it really worries us." (El Financiero (Mexico City) in Spanish on December 7, 2007.)

"It is irresponsible of the Mexican Government, of Felipe Calderon, to allow the interests of a powerful 2 percent of people in the Mexican economy to hand Mexican trucking over to the Americans," Dip Rame said. (El Financiero (Mexico City) in Spanish on December 7, 2007.)

Now the Teamsters are calling for the head of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.

This comes at a great time as I was bitching about communication and lack of publicity yesterday in my Waldbaums Closing NY Warehouse story. I urge everyone who cares about their families and workers here in the United States, Union and otherwise, to send an E-Mail to Congress demanding action. It's really easy to do and it makes a difference. Click the link below and fill out the form, you can personalize your disgust in the body area.
Tell Congress: Stop Illegal Mexican Truck Program

Heres an interesting link about the "safe Mexican domiciled vehicles" in which 37 people were killed and 150 were injured in a trucking accident in Mexico five days before Senate temporarily blocked the pilot program. And another story about an accident, involving 2 tractor trailers and many vehicles, that *killed four Mexican nationals who were driving a pick up with Texas plates on a the border crossing bridge. If the unending influx of Illegal Aliens entering this country via Mexico is any indication of what the truck inspections will be like, we're fucked, plain and simple. *source-KGBT and CNN

From August 2007


Please post back if you get a response
Thanks,
Joe