Trucking

Mexican Truck Company With Poor Safety Record Drops Out Of Cross-Border Pilot Project

February 7, 2008 -- (Washington, D.C.) – The Teamsters Union demands to know why U.S. inspectors opened the border to a Mexican truck company with an abysmal safety record.

The company last week dropped out of the cross-border trucking pilot program with no explanation from the Transportation Department.    » read more »

Fire Mary Peters For Unlawfully Opening Border To Dangerous Trucks From Mexico

February 6, 2008 -- (Washington, D.C.) – The Teamsters launched a nationwide grassroots campaign to fire Transportation Secretary Mary Peters for unlawfully opening the border to unsafe trucks from Mexico.

“It’s a disgrace that Mary Peters is still in office,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. “She has broken the law and defied the will of the American people by exposing them to dangerous trucks from Mexico.”    » read more »

Coalition of Safety Advocates Urges Federal Transportation Officials to Intervene

Jan. 28, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – A proposal by Maine officials to allow trucks weighing up to 105,000 pounds full access to the state’s highways and bridges greatly increases the likelihood of a catastrophic bridge collapse similar to the one in Minneapolis last summer, a coalition of safety groups said Friday.    » read more »

An Overwhelming Majority of Workers Seek To Join Locals 89, 651

January 25, 2008 -- (Washington, D.C.) – An overwhelming majority of about 300 workers at the UPS Freight (formerly Overnite Transportation) terminals in Louisville and Lexington, in Kentucky, have signed authorization cards to become Teamsters, bringing the total number of drivers and dockworkers seeking to join the union to about 2,500 since last week, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa announced.    » read more »

FMCSA Allowed To Ignore Courts, Congress on Highway Safety

January 24, 2008 -- (Washington, D.C.) – Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today said he is disappointed that the court declined to end a dangerous rule that lets truckers drive longer hours.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit twice struck down the Bush administration’s rule extending truck drivers’ hours-of-service from 10 hours to 11 hours.    » read more »

Jan. 16, 2008 -- Colorado Governor Bill Ritter today applauded Safeway's conversion of its national trucking fleet to cleaner-burning biodiesel and its new partnership with Colorado-based Blue Sun, which will provide fuel for Safeway's Denver regional distribution center.

"The future of our country depends on the private sector and companies like Safeway demonstrating leadership around how we consume energy," Gov. Ritter said. "Safeway's decision and its partnership with Blue Sun is another example of how we are building a New Energy Economy here in Colorado and across the nation.    » read more »

Statement of Joan Claybrook, President, Public Citizen

Jan. 7, 2008 -- Today, the Bush administration spat in the public’s face by allowing full access to U.S. roads to yet another Mexico-based carrier — despite Congress’ clear intent that the reckless NAFTA trucking pilot program be brought to an end.    » read more »

Public Citizen, Safety Advocates Ask Court to Compel Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to Set Aside Dangerous Rule

Dec. 19, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Bush administration rule allowing truckers 11 hours a day behind the wheel imperils both truckers and the driving public, Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday, shortly before the consumer group asked a federal court of appeals to enforce its earlier decision striking down the rule.    » read more »

Families of Crash Victims Will Attend Senate Subcommittee to Oppose Decision Allowing Truckers 11 Hours a Day Driving

Dec. 18, 2007 -- WHAT: Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, will testify before a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee about the organization’s opposition to a Bush administration rule that allows truck drivers to log 11 continuous driving hours and 88 hours in an eight-day period.    » read more »

Rule Governing Trucker Hours Puts Drivers at Risk

Dec. 11, 2007 -- Statement of Joan Claybrook, President, Public Citizen:

How many times must the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) be told to improve working conditions for truck drivers before it gets it right? Apparently, more than twice. Today, the agency released yet another interim rule governing the number of hours truckers can drive without stopping (known as hours-of-service rules) that is practically identical to two rules that the courts struck down earlier this year and in 2004.    » read more »

Court Cites Failure to Address Costs of Warming in Its Opinion

November 15, 2007 -- San Francisco, Calif.--Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a huge victory for the Sierra Club, several other environmental groups, and several states by voiding the Bush administration’s fuel economy standards for light trucks. The case was filed May 23, 2006 in response to light truck fuel economy standards finalized by the administration in April 2006.    » read more »

Statement of Joan Claybrook, President of Public Citizen

Nov. 14, 2007 -- "We are now one step closer to protecting the public from the Bush administration’s reckless rush to give Mexico-based trucks full access to U.S. roads.    » read more »

12 November 2007 -- Authorities in Mexico say they have taken into custody 164 illegal Central American immigrants who were inside a truck that was supposed to be carrying aid to victims of recent flooding in the southern state of Tabasco.

The National Migration Institute says 159 Guatemalans and five Hondurans were hiding in the truck when it was stopped for a routine search.

The driver was arrested.

Many Central American migrants pass through southern Mexico en route to the United States to seek work.

Source: VOA News

General Assembly Blocked Measure at this Years’ Regular Session; FBI Investigating Incident as Part of Operation Dollar Bill

Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri today called on the General Assembly to approve during Tuesday’s special legislative session a tax incentive that was recommended by state economic development officials for A. Duie Pyle, a Pennsylvania trucking company that is currently building a new distribution facility in Johnston.    » read more »

This week, Michigan State Police (MSP) motor carrier officers will join federal and state enforcement officers from across the country and Canada in a new effort to address commercial vehicle driver behaviors that increase the likelihood of a crash.    » read more »