Mexican truck program 'sucker-punches' U.S.

Telling a women's conference in Houston that the effort is dangerous, leader vows Teamsters will fight funding


Calling a new pilot program opening the border to Mexican trucks dangerous, Teamsters President Jim Hoffa said today in Houston the union will lobby to cut its funding.

Hoffa said money for the new program came from somewhere and the union will press Congress to stop it.

"We can do that," he said.

In prepared remarks, the union president said the Bush administration has "sucker-punched" American workers by opening highways to Mexican trucks.

Under the year-long pilot program, up to 100 Mexican carriers can get permission to go beyond a 25-mile buffer zone in the U.S. There are also provisions for U.S. carriers to go into Mexico.

The program comes under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Hoffa told the annual Teamsters Women's Conference at the Hilton Americas hotel that drugs could come in the U.S. across the border in the trucks. He said that although the Bush administration says it is concerned about national security, the program will threaten safety.

The union, along with groups including the Sierra Club and Public Citizen, argues it endangers highways because safety issues aren't resolved. A new report by the Department of Transportation's inspector general strengthens that argument, Hoffa said.

That report concluded the Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hasn't developed and implemented complete, coordinated plans for checking trucks and drivers in the demonstration project as they cross the border.

"It's a disaster waiting to happen," the Teamsters president said.

But the safety administration says the inspector general affirmed its plans to go beyond statutory requirements and to check every truck crossing the border.

John H. Hill, administrator of the Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said today every audit the inspector general has done since 2002 found the department made substantial compliance in meeting requirements laid out by Congress.

"Any time a government program is put in place, there are always ways to improve it," he said.

Hill added that the pilot program's safety protocols are more rigorous for Mexican carriers than they are for U.S. carriers. And he questioned why Hoffa is concerned that U.S. trucking companies can't compete with Mexican trucking companies.

"We believe they can," Hill said. "I think this is about issues unrelated to the safety agenda."

The administrator also said some of the comments being made are unduly alarming to the public. He stressed last week that the program meets all public safety requirements.

Thursday night, transportation officials said one Mexican carrier and two U.S. carriers had been certified under the program. Friday evening, the Mexican carrier sent a truck loaded with steel bound for Wilson Hills, N.C.

A lawsuit by the Teamsters and other groups aimed at blocking the program is pending in court.