Sunday, January 9, 2011

Still another reason to close the border to Mexican trucks: 'They're barely held together'

Many people who want to open our southern border wouldn't know a Mexican truck if it bit them in the ass. Truck driver Dustin Walensky of Aurora would -- he sees them all the time.


Walensky, along with the Teamsters' own Jim Kabell, was interviewed in an excellent report by KY3 News in Missouri,  Ozarks truckers oppose allowing long-haul Mexican trucks.
Walensky told KY3,
Their trucks are barely held together. They're older; a lot of the old cab-overs they take over and they fix up, but they're not fixed up; they're dangerous.
Kabell told KY3 it's a "terrible proposal."  He pointed out that as many as half of Teamsters freight workers were out of work during the recession, and many still are. Said Kabell,

Frankly, I think there will be corporate support for this, because they look for cheaper ways to do things, but I think at a time when we've got unemployment now, and we want to allow Mexican trucks to come in across this country at a time when we've got warehouse workers and truck drivers that are out of work, I think it's a terrible proposal.
Kabell is secretary/treasurer of Teamsters Local No. 245 and president of the Missouri-Kansas-Nebraska Conference of Teamsters.