Miami, FL
In December 1995, the Clinton Administration temporarily delayed implementing NAFTA's cross-border trucking provisions, which would have allowed Mexican trucks to travel anywhere in the four U.S. border states (California, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico) effective January 1, 1996. NAFTA also would allow Mexican trucks to travel throughout the United States beginning January 1, 2000. The delay was a response to strong evidence that Mexico's truck safety standards were significantly below those in the United States and that US inspection and enforcement programs were insufficient to prevent unsafe Mexican trucks and drivers from endangering the American motoring public. That delay is still in effect, and Mexican trucks currently are limited to a narrow "commercial zone" near border crossings.
Three years after this announcement, and five years after the implementation of NAFTA, the Department of Transportation's office of the Inspector General released an audit (the "DOT IG Report") of efforts by the American and Mexican authorities to address these safety problems. The DOT IG Report concludes that very little has changed since NAFTA's implementation and that until major changes are made, opening the border to Mexican trucks will expose US drivers to unacceptable risk.
Among the issues highlighted in the DOT IG Report are the following:
- The Mexican truck out-of-service rate for FY 1997 at US/Mexico border crossings was 44 percent (almost 50 percent in Texas) compared to the US out-of-service rate of 25 percent.
- In 1997, 3.5 million commercial trucks entered the United States. Inspectors were able to fully inspect only 1 percent of those incoming trucks.
- Texas (which handles 67 percent of the truck traffic from Mexico) and Arizona (with 9 percent of the traffic) have no permanent truck inspection facilities at their border crossings. Inspectors are forced to share facilities with the US Customs Service on a "space available" basis, which at many facilities only allows three or four vehicles to be placed out-of-service at one time.
- Mexico does not restrict the number of hours drivers may operate a vehicle without rest, has no vehicle maintenance requirements, performs no roadside inspections, and has not developed a dependable automated system to trace safety histories of drivers or carriers.
The DOT IG Report concludes that "the FHWA [Federal Highway Administration] does not have a consistent enforcement program that provides reasonable assurance of the safety of Mexican trucks entering the United States. Furthermore, should the moratorium on cross-border trucking be lifted in the near term, the FHWA is not ready to reasonably enforce US safety regulations on Mexican carriers.
It is vital that the current moratorium on implementation be continued. The AFL-CIO will strenuously oppose any further opening of the U.S.-Mexican border or additional access to US roads for Mexican trucks until Mexican trucks and their drivers can meet all US safety laws and regulations, including:
- truck size and weight, and mechanical requirements;
- driver licensing, training, and hours of service; and
- vehicle emissions and hazardous materials transportation safety; and
- also adhere to all of the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and other applicable labor law.
Additionally, the AFL-CIO will continue to mount an aggressive effort to communicate to federal and state officials, as well as the American public, the serious safety hazards that will ensue if these unsafe Mexican vehicles are allowed access to our nation's highways.