Archives

While some stories find themselves on the backburner for long periods of time as they are worked out through ‘the powers that be,' we are doing the industry a great disservice by not shedding light on them periodically.  Such is the case with the Cross Boarder Pilot Program. The premise for our objections must remain ever-present in our minds, and our passion must not waiver.

As we all know, the Department of Transportation has decided to allow 100 Mexico-based carriers to travel among us on U.S Highways. The decision was, "if we let them use our Highways, then they'll let us use theirs", but how fair is this deal for our US boys? To be truthful, not fair at all.

Even though the trucks are from Mexican-American counterpart companies, and it does benefit us to use their highways, the levels of safety are not up to par by American standards and in comparison to our American companies. The biggest problem is that Mexico-based Companies are not nearly strict enough when it comes to their laws and regulations. Their drug and alcohol testing is inadequate, and safety regulations (compared to ours) is somewhat of a joke. How fair is it to our truckers, who abide by federal and state laws, to allow their good names to be dragged through the mud by lower standard drivers? These drivers form our Mexican counter-part companies demonstrate blatant standards deficits, and this will ultimately cause problems on the road for everyone.

Another problem arising, of course, is money. Mexico-based companies are out-bidding American companies and it's lowered their hard earned fees. If we allow this to continue, American Truckers are in big trouble because they will always be out-bid by the Mexico-based companies, thereby causing unemployment rates to rise, once again, in this field. They are fighting us, though, on the fact that they make less money so it's unfair to deny those economic advantages that we receive.  This argument is rooted in The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which allows them right to compete with us.

What are our companies and hard-working truckers to do?

Don't worry; our good ol' boys are still fighting the good fight. President Obama, OOIDA President Jim Johnston, and Secretary Ray LaHood are all trying to stop the cross boarder pilot program's efforts due to the lack of mandated safety and standards. They are trying to allow free trade while pressuring companies to bring standards and regulations up to American expectations.  The fight DOES rage on.

If you'd like to help, call 202-224-3121(Capitol Switchboard) and let your local government officials know how much you appreciate our safety on the road not being compromised by economic interests.

OOIDA's website also keeps us regularly updated on developments on this ever-evolving story. For more information and updates, please visit OOIDA's website.