Received this update from OOIDA today
OOIDA and five other organizations (Teamsters, Public Citizen, the Sierra Club, the Environmental Law Foundation and Teamsters Local No. 70 in Oakland, CA) has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Transportation over the pilot program opening the border to 100 Mexico-based trucking companies. Our contention is the DOT has violated federal laws regarding public notice and comment. We believe they have pushed through this program almost entirely in secret and beyond public view or scrutiny. We also believe they have not complied with Section 350 of the 2002 Transportations Appropriations Act and have not fulfilled the requirements with regard to safety, economic and homeland security.
We have communicated the importance of why we are against this program to the media and received significant responses and coverage. However, we need members to help spread the word to local communities and educate the public as to how this affects them. The public needs to understand how these things affect their safety and security as they travel America's highways.
You can help educate the public by writing a letter to the editor of your hometown newspaper. Contact information is usually posted in the editorial section. We suggest using email and keeping letters to 75-100 words.
Below is a sample letter you may use. You can cut and paste the sample letter into a new document or email. Feel free to add, delete, revise and make this letter your own. Be sure to include your name, address and contact information as the editor will likely contact you to verify its authenticity.
************Sample Letter****************
Dear Editor,
The United States Department of Transportation is poised to kick the border wide open to trucks from Mexico operating throughout the U.S. This will have a very real effect on all highway users.
DOT says safety and security programs are in place. This is a joke!
Truckers in the United States must hold a valid commercial driver's license with 10 years of driving history. For the Mexican equivalent, we won't know if these drivers are trained as truckers or terrorists.
United States truckers are required to be drug and alcohol tested and to follow hours of service regulations for driving time. No such regulations exist in Mexico.
DOT says every truck will be inspected at the border. Not likely. They inspect less than 4% right now. And what will these trucks haul into the US? Could be people or drugs or dirty bombs. We won't know.
Why the rush to open the border? The answer is money. The United States Chamber of Commerce believes we need more trucks and cheaper labor. So, safety is compromised and American drivers lose their jobs. Doesn't sound like anyone in this country wins.
Right now, there are definitely more questions than answers. And until the DOT can assure the public that Mexican trucks are just as safe as U.S. trucks, the border must stay closed.
Contact your elected officials today and tell them to keep the border closed!
OOIDA and five other organizations (Teamsters, Public Citizen, the Sierra Club, the Environmental Law Foundation and Teamsters Local No. 70 in Oakland, CA) has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Transportation over the pilot program opening the border to 100 Mexico-based trucking companies. Our contention is the DOT has violated federal laws regarding public notice and comment. We believe they have pushed through this program almost entirely in secret and beyond public view or scrutiny. We also believe they have not complied with Section 350 of the 2002 Transportations Appropriations Act and have not fulfilled the requirements with regard to safety, economic and homeland security.
We have communicated the importance of why we are against this program to the media and received significant responses and coverage. However, we need members to help spread the word to local communities and educate the public as to how this affects them. The public needs to understand how these things affect their safety and security as they travel America's highways.
You can help educate the public by writing a letter to the editor of your hometown newspaper. Contact information is usually posted in the editorial section. We suggest using email and keeping letters to 75-100 words.
Below is a sample letter you may use. You can cut and paste the sample letter into a new document or email. Feel free to add, delete, revise and make this letter your own. Be sure to include your name, address and contact information as the editor will likely contact you to verify its authenticity.
************Sample Letter****************
Dear Editor,
The United States Department of Transportation is poised to kick the border wide open to trucks from Mexico operating throughout the U.S. This will have a very real effect on all highway users.
DOT says safety and security programs are in place. This is a joke!
Truckers in the United States must hold a valid commercial driver's license with 10 years of driving history. For the Mexican equivalent, we won't know if these drivers are trained as truckers or terrorists.
United States truckers are required to be drug and alcohol tested and to follow hours of service regulations for driving time. No such regulations exist in Mexico.
DOT says every truck will be inspected at the border. Not likely. They inspect less than 4% right now. And what will these trucks haul into the US? Could be people or drugs or dirty bombs. We won't know.
Why the rush to open the border? The answer is money. The United States Chamber of Commerce believes we need more trucks and cheaper labor. So, safety is compromised and American drivers lose their jobs. Doesn't sound like anyone in this country wins.
Right now, there are definitely more questions than answers. And until the DOT can assure the public that Mexican trucks are just as safe as U.S. trucks, the border must stay closed.
Contact your elected officials today and tell them to keep the border closed!