Teamsters' Hoffa leads border rally protesting trucking program

By David Washburn

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

December 5, 2007

SAN DIEGO – Saying he was here to fight for the safety of America's roads, Teamsters union General President Jim Hoffa led a rally Wednesday morning at the Otay Mesa border crossing to protest a pilot program that allows long-haul trucking across the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The big money boys want to have trucks coming through here that are dangerous,” Hoffa said over cheers from dozens of Teamsters and the roar from Mexican trucks leaving the U.S. inspection station on Enrico Fermi Drive.

“Wake up America, fight back,” Hoffa told supporters.

The pilot project, which has been up and running since September, allows up to 100 pre-approved Mexican carriers to send trucks throughout the United States – beyond the border zone – for a year to test the safety of cross-border trucking.

U.S. carriers also can travel in Mexico for the first time as a step toward opening the border to commercial traffic as required in the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.