NAFTA superhighway to mean Mexican drivers, say Teamsters

[donsu]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51712

Union warns of drug-taking truckers, unsafe rigs on planned trade routes

The NAFTA superhighway, a north-south interstate trade corridor linking Mexico, Canada and the U.S., would mean U.S. truckers replaced by Mexicans, more unsafe rigs on American roads and more drivers relying on drugs for their long hauls, charges the International Brotherhood of Teamsters – the latest group to weigh in against the Bush administration plan.

The August issue of Teamster magazine features a cover story on the plan for an enlarged I-35 that will reach north from the drug capital border town of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, 1,600 miles to Canada through San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Kansas City, Minneapolis and Duluth, while I-69 originating at the same crossing will shoot north to Michigan and across the Canadian border.

Public proposals for the superhighway calls for each corridor to be 1,200 feet wide with six lanes devoted to cars, four to trucks, with a rail line and utilities in the middle. Most of the goods will come from new Mexican ports being built on the Pacific Coast – ports being run by Chinese state-controlled shipping companies.

-snip-

So incensed was the union over the plan for the NAFTA superhighway that it sent investigative reporter Charles Bowden to Mexico for its August magazine report on the problems affecting Mexican drivers – problems that could soon come home to Americans with the plans for the new intercontinental highways.

Drivers interviewed for the magazine report say they are exploited by companies that force them to drive 4,500 kilometers alone over the course of five or six nights without sleep. How do they stay awake on such long hauls?

One driver says, "professional secret." Another laughs, "magic dust." Others mention "special chemicals."
-snip-
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you really should read the whole thing

and the big suits are already buying up land that will be used so they can cash in and make big bucks

is Canada silent on this? I haven't seen anything from them. these trucks will go there too and their land bought up, if it isn't already.

[madrchsod]

1. "la turn arounds" or black widows

outlawed in the early 70`s, these pills would keep one up for several days. of course one would have a several day crash...just what the country needs is a new conduit for speed.

[tularetom]

2. This is a frickin dumb idea on a lot of levels

Not the least being - I'd never support it because I don't want to end up buried in the end zone in the Giants stadium.

[pooja]

3. There has been so little news on this... It needs to be in MSM...

People would be very pissed if they knew we were building a super highway accross our country for direct access of Canada and Mexico... And we are paying to build it.

[RB TexLa]

4. And US drivers ALWAYS take the required off time and NEVER use

drugs to stay awake. And of course all trucks here are in the safest of conditions. Tires are NEVER driven on to the point they shread on the highway, no one has ever seen that from a US truck. :rofl:

[MADem]

5. Well, Canadian goods can go SOUTH on that highway, too

Some assholes are making money. Stuff like this doesn't happen otherwise.

http://www.teamster.org/resources/members/TeamsterMagazine/06August/nafta.htm

Here is a link to the original article, above.

....And then they are off, a torrent of words and quips and smiles, and a knowing discussion of that jolt when a line of cocaine locks in. They are all family men who run the highways at least 25 days a month and they are adamant about two things -- that nobody can run these long hauls without cocaine and crystal meth, and now and then some marijuana to level out the rush. And that the biggest danger on their endless runs comes from addicted Mexican truck drivers, which means all truck drivers.

Dangerous Drivers

The men earn about $1,100 a month. In Mexico, the cost of living is roughly 80 or 90 percent that of the U.S. The only real bargain in Mexico is labor. Many other items cost more than the U.S. -- the telephone rates are among the highest in the world and a sack of cement or a board foot of lumber costs more than in any American town.

None of the drivers at the table has driven in the U.S. save for short crossings where they dump the load and instantly return on special routes like the World Trade Bridge.

The man with the empty beer explains "We make almost nothing -- less than $300 a week. I work 48 hours non-stop. I drive 2,400 kilometers per trip and get no time for turnarounds."

And every man at the table agrees on their biggest problem -- the government. And by that they mean the police, especially federal, who rob them at will.

"If you drive to Mexico City," another driver adds, "you are robbed, for sure. Police are the first to rob you. If you report a robbery, the police try to make you the guilty person."...

I can't see the use of pot in all that drug taking. If you're driving, you aren't gonna be looking for some fritos and dip, and a nap...

[robcon]

6. This is not a big deal, IMO.

Canadian drivers have been in the U.S. since NAFTA was signed. IN the 90's we put a side deal to delay allowing Mexican drivers. Mexican drivers should be allowed in the U.S., the same as Canadians, IMO. (and vice versa)