Industry News

Teamsters File Appeal to Fight Mexican Trucking

March 12, 2015


    The Brotherhood of Teamsters labor union filed a petition for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on March 10, 2015 in conjunction with Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition, to protest the Department of Transportation's (DOT) decision to allow trucks from Mexico to move freely across the border.  The decision was based on a study of a pilot program that opened borders to thirteen Mexican trucking companies, which the Teamsters claim violated the Administrative Procedures Act.  The conclusion of the study stated that "the Mexico-domiciled carriers operate at a level of safety equal to or greater than U.S. and Canadian carries."  However in a press release, Teamsters stated that the conclusion was "arbitrary and capricious in light of the admitted lack of significant data from a pilot program Congress required DOT to conduct."
    
    Based on the report, the DOT announced that it would open the borders to the Mexican domiciled trucks sometime in 2015 although the Inspector General of the DOT acknowledged that the report did not provide “statistically significant data” during the initial pilot test.  The pilot program never tested the “safety of long-haul operations originating in Mexico and traveling throughout the United States beyond the commercial zones where Mexican trucks are already permitted to travel.”

    This petition follows a letter sent to the United States Trade Representative Michael Froman on February 24, 2015 from Teamsters General President James Hoffa, which asked for Froman to include the Mexican trucking issues as part of TPP negotiations.  Hoffa also reached out to Secretary Anthony Foxx of the DOT expressing his “shock” that the “department has decided to ignore the findings of the DOT Inspector General (IG), and move forward in granting operating authority to Mexican-domiciled carriers to conduct long-haul trucking operations into the United States.”  Hoffa claims that changing the regulations has put “highway safety and the traveling public at greater risk.”

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