Area Teamsters Vow Fight Against Plan To Allow Mexican Trucks On US Highways
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Teamsters' Union is vowing a fight against an agreement signed by the US Department of Transportation to allow Mexican freight trucks to operate on US highways.
A report published in USA Today says the deal completes an unfinished part of the North American Free Trade Agreement by allowing cross-border traffic by Mexican tractor-trailer rigs.
But Bill Hamilton, Pennsylvania conference president for the Teamsters and president of Teamsters' Local 107 in Philadelphia, says the deal is being opposed by union and well as non-union trucking interests.
He says Mexican drivers could pose a danger to motorists on American highways.
"The Mexicans don't run on hours of service in Mexico. They're certainly not going to come into this country and all of a sudden live by the laws that we're under," Hamilton says. "And if they do get caught, the penalties are rather tame compared to what our guys would suffer -- a loss of license."
Hamilton says the unions are prepared to mount protests at the US-Mexican border and are putting heavy pressure on Congress to kill the deal.
Reported by Mark Abrams, KYW Newsradio 1060
