Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa wrote the following letter to the editor, which ran in today's Washington Post.
The March 8 editorial "Let the Trucks Roll" fell flat. Safety and security are why the Teamsters oppose the Bush administration's dangerous experiment to allow unsafe Mexican trucks onto U.S. roads.
More than a decade after NAFTA was enacted, the Mexican government and Mexican motor carriers are not meeting congressionally mandated safety requirements. It's that simple.
Mexico has virtually no enforceable safety requirements for tractor-trailers and a limited inspection program. Its lax licensing system means we don't know who is driving those trucks. There are no enforced hours-of-service regulations or age restrictions. Mexican carriers will be allowed to provide "proof" that their drug and alcohol testing programs are in compliance with U.S. requirements.
U.S. inspectors, the editorial claimed, will "thoroughly vet the carriers, including every truck and every driver they send over the border." Today, trucking inspectors are stretched to the limit performing safety checks on American carriers. It's impossible to thoroughly inspect every truck. The Transportation Department's inspector general even raised those concerns at a Senate hearing the same day The Post's editorial ran.
Instead of recklessly opening our borders and putting the driving public at risk, we deserve to know that all trucks on our roads are in good condition and that their drivers are qualified, trained and rested.
JAMES P. HOFFA
General President
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
