In September, the U.S. Transportation Department inspector general reported there are only four trucks and five drivers in the program. And the government isn't making sure drivers can understand American road signs -- or that they aren't carrying cargo illegally.
Oral arguments will be heard tomorrow in federal court. The case was filed in March. Here's the statement from the IBT at the time:
The Teamsters filed the motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Court late yesterday. The case was consolidated with a similar lawsuit by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
“The FMCSA makes the bizarre argument that our members aren’t harmed by a program that opens the border to low-paid truck drivers and dangerous, dirty trucks,” Hoffa said. “Try telling that to our members.
“U.S. commercial truck drivers must follow all U.S. safety regulations while Mexican drivers only need to follow selected Mexican regulations. The government is flat-out wrong to say Mexican trucks and drivers meet equivalent standards.”
The purpose of a pilot program is to demonstrate the impact of Mexican trucks on U.S. highway safety. The law requires the program to include a statistically valid number of trucks. In other words, program administrators can’t cherry pick the safest trucks and drivers and then conclude from their safety record in the U.S. that opening the border to all Mexican trucks won’t harm highway safety.We'll be in court to bring you the news.
