Teamsters: Court Ruling on Hours-of-Service Off Base

[Omaha Steve]

http://sev.prnewswire.com/transportation-trucking-railroad/20080124/DC1234024012008-1.html

FMCSA Allowed To Ignore Courts, Congress on Highway Safety

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 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.

But in brazen defiance of the court and in subservience to the trucking industry, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) temporarily reinstated the rule in December.

The Teamsters -- along with Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and Public Citizen -- asked the court to enforce its order to strike the rule. The court on Wednesday declined.

"We will continue to fight this dangerous rule, though the court refused to intervene this time," Hoffa said. "This was a procedural ruling that does nothing to support the Bush administration's justification for letting tired truck drivers spend even more time behind the wheel."

"This hours-of-service rule is as lawless and as dangerous as opening the border to unsafe Mexican trucks, but the Bush administration thinks it's above the law," Hoffa said.

FULL story at link.