I'm surprised nobody here is all over the Mexican Truck story -- that is, the fact that some Judge has decided, over the objections of Labor, Environmental, and Safety organizations, that it's just A-OK to start letting dangerous, overloaded, non-union Mexican trucks rumble across our highways.
This is a serious, serious problem and is one of the nails in the coffin for one of the last vestiges of American Union's clout in this country -- that of dockworkers and truckdrivers.
More over the fold ....
This trucking program is scheduled to begin Thursday. As in THIS Thursday.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Bush administration can go ahead with a pilot program to allow as many as 100 Mexican trucking companies to freely haul their cargo anywhere within the U.S. for the next year, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request made by the Teamsters union, the Sierra Club and the nonprofit Public Citizen to halt the program.
The appeals court ruled the groups have not satisfied the legal requirements to immediately stop what the government is calling a "demonstration project," but can continue to argue their case.
The trucking program is scheduled to begin Thursday.
Now this is all designed to make people think "so what? It's just a pilot program. And the regulations on the Mexican trucks will be the same as those for American trucks." (Frankly I don't believe this. I've driven in Mexico, sharing the road with Mexican trucks, and they are overloaded, dirty, and dangerous.)
But the underlying issue they don't tell you about is that this is the beginning of a plan to destroy the power of unions in the American port system.
Mexico has been expanding its port operations at such a rapid pace that it could be siphoning away a significant amount of business from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach within several years, according to a confidential study just compiled by the L.A. port.
(snip)
Meanwhile, Mexican officials are eyeing Punta Colonet, about 80 miles south of Ensenada, as a major container port. While the plan would take years to fully develop, requiring significant public and private investment, its construction would have serious implications on the Port of L.A., according to the report.
(snip)
But U.S. importers--hit with labor unrest, terminal and freeway congestion, and higher fees--are instructing steamship lines to look for alternative routes to transport cargo from Asia.
(snip)
"All the big boys have put it out to the global market that they want the carriers to look at options other than L.A. and Long Beach," said the L.A. port official. "That's what's really pushing this Mexico thing."
I'll repeat that:
"That's what's really pushing this Mexico thing."
So there you have it. As of this Thursday non-Union Mexican drivers will start driving their big-rigs over our highways.
Soon they'll be driving those rigs from non-union Mexican ports. American Unions will be further destroyed.
Oh, but the Walton family, who owns WalMart, will be happy! And that's what really counts in today's America, doesn't it?