Posted on 04/14/2007 4:52:09 AM PDT by Man50D
American truckers plan to circle the White House and state capitals in a "rolling blockade" to protest a federal government plan to allow Mexican long-haul rigs to operate throughout the U.S.
Drivers who participate in "Truck-Out" also are being asked to run their rigs at the minimum speed permitted by law.
The protest is scheduled for April 23-25 to coordinate with the "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" rally and radio talk show marathon in Washington planned by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
"American truckers are going to have their jobs undercut or vanish into the hands of Mexican truck drivers as this Department of Transportation pilot project gains permanency," said Frosty Wooldridge, a writer and talk-show host who drove 18-wheelers for two decades.
"American truckers are going to have their jobs undercut or vanish into the hands of Mexican truck drivers as this Department of Transportation pilot project gains permanency," said Frosty Wooldridge, a writer and talk-show host who drove 18-wheelers for two decades.
Woolridge first called for the Truck-Out protest in a column at the end of March, asking truckers in the border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California to participate.
The idea expanded to a national boycott when Wanda Piety, a California independent business owner, joined Wooldridge in planning "Truck-Out".
"Every American truck driver's job is at risk," Woolridge said. "American drivers are going to see their wages undermined or they will lose their jobs altogether to Mexican drivers and Mexican trucking companies."
As WND reported, despite congressional opposition, the Bush administration expects to begin within weeks a pilot test that will allow Mexican trucks to operate freely across the U.S.
A spokesman for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Ian Grossman, told WND the agency plans to grant the first authority as early as the end of this month.
WND previously reported an amendment introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., into the Fiscal Year 2007 Supplemental Appropriations Bill is designed to block the pilot test until the Mexican government authorizes U.S. trucking companies to operate in Mexico.
'Jobs will vanish'
Wooldridge told WND he expects Mexican truck drivers to haul loads for considerably less than half the cost of U.S. truck drivers.
"Jobs will vanish for American truckers," he contended. "The independents are going to be run right out of the business."
Working together, Piety and Wooldridge have created a website, SaveAmericaFund.org as the home of the boycott.
"The reaction we are getting to 'Truck-Out' has been overwhelmingly successful," Piety told WND. "We have thousands of truckers contacting us saying they will participate."
The plan calls for drivers to form a slow-moving line across major highways outlying Washington, D.C. and the state capitals of the lower 48 states.
"We want to circle the White House and the state capitals in a slow-rolling boycott," Piety explained. "As long as we keep moving, the trucks won't be ticketed. The truckers plan to drive the slowest minimum speed allowed by the law, running bumper-to-bumper and side-by-side across the highways to block up and jam up traffic."
Piety said the goal is to back up traffic behind the protest "as far as we can back it up."
"There's no law against anything we're doing," she said. "Even on the freeways, for trucks to go all the way across the freeway and back up traffic, there's no law that says that's illegal."
If police come and break up the protest, the truckers "will just go on down the road a ways and start up the protest up once again."
"We just want to continually have a cohesive flow of truckers boycotting going on, all across the nation, wherever we can get it to happen," Piety explained. "We want to let as many people to know as possible."
Piety told WND she sees the Department of Transportation's Mexican truck pilot test as part of a broader Bush administration plan to open the border.
"There's a problem in this country, and it revolves around George Bush's plans with Mexico," she said. "The plan to allow Mexican trucks into the U.S. is part of [the North America Free Trade Agreement] and we are opposed to that plan, just like we are opposed to NAFTA."
Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the OOIDA, told WND his group shares "in the outrage that is being felt by the folks who are organizing and participating in the 'Truck-Out.'"
While OOIDA is not sponsoring or endorsing the protest, Spencer said the group is "encouraging our members to fully exercise their rights and responsibilities as American citizens to work within the system and convey their indignation to their elected officials."
"It is simply outrageous that our government plans to allow Mexican trucks full reign of U.S. highways before all safety, economic and homeland security concerns are completely and appropriately addressed," he said.
A Teamsters Union spokesman told WND the union was aware of "Truck-Out" but not involved.
"The union is concentrating on using its political clout to block the pilot program through the legislative process," Galen Munroe told WND.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., whose NAFTA Trucking Safety Act is now working its way through House committees, commented to WND on the "Truck-Out" boycott.
"The growing opposition to the pilot program and the overall effort to grant cross-border truckers immediate and direct access into the United States should not be ignored," he said.
"People have a right to be concerned with the Mexican truck pilot program," said Hunter, "especially when it could potentially compromise their safety and our nation's security."
Hunter stressed the reasons he has introduced the NAFTA Trucking Safety Act, noting it's "important that the implementing authority listen to and thoroughly address these concerns before moving forward with the program."
Wooldridge was a math-science teacher in Denver in the 1970s when he decided to supplement his salary by driving trucks in the summer.
For 21 summers, he was a long-haul driver for United Van Lines. For the last three years of his trucking career, Wooldridge was the head trainer and safety officer for Johnston Storage & Moving in Denver, a United Van Lines agency.
Wooldridge drove 18-wheel long-haul rigs in all 48 states of the lower U.S. and in Canada. He ran 48- and 53-foot freight boxes, with extensive experience on the Interstate highways.
Today, Wooldridge is a professional writer who specializes in non-fiction adventure books. He writes two columns a week on the Internet and hosts a radio show on the Republic Broadcasting Network twice a week.
Piety owns a private business in Los Angeles. She declined to name it because of her concern local pro-illegal immigration groups would harass her in response to organizing "Truck-Out."
I believe I saw this truck parked in front of this bidness......
The NAFTA Nightspot & We-No-Tell-Motel....
See, the NAFTA Superhighway is already developing new bidnesses.....
My favorite line:
“Our elected government officials, including the President of the United States, work for us, the legal citizens of the United States of America, we are their boss, not the other way around. Either they start listening to us, or there will be serious consequences to their ill willed, greed driven, self-serving, corrupt behavior.”
Hmmm... I got an email from a friend with information on this “event” a few weeks back. Then just a few days ago, received another that said the event had been canceled - it had grown out of hand for the organizers.
And now this “story”... So where is the truth?
Your response gives a whole new meaning to “NIMBY”.
I would much rather have the roadblocks for a day or two than Mexican trucks getting cart blanch on American highways forever. Nothing else is working. Bush seems dead set on making this the United States of Mexica
And now this story... So where is the truth?
The story is TRUE! The Truckers Boycott is still ON, according to the Truckers' Boycott website, saveamericafund (click on links below):
http://www.saveamericafund.com/
Or
http://www.saveamericafund.com/truckers-boycott.php
To me, it sounds like the second e-mail you received stating the boycott is OFF maybe part of a misinformation campaign of some kind designed to keep truckers or others from participating in the boycott. Nowhere on the saveamericafund website (the organizers of the boycott) does it mention the boycott being cancelled.
I believe we got us some convoys.
Wondered what you might be hearing on the truckers network?
No one will notice in the DC area. They’ll just figure it’s another gridlock day.
Once again Independent Truckers come to the rescue.
The only trucks and truckers able to specifically attend this event and not just jump on board because they have a load going through DC, are the independents.
Nowhere is there any mention of large freight hauling companies (Union run companies) joining in. But you can bet the farm that any company drivers in DC during the protest will join in.
As for moi, this is one traffic jam I can happily endorse.
Yep!
However in the Detroit News, James P. Hoffa wrote an op-ed about Mexican trucks, can’t remember when, a few weeks ago? Safety of the rigs, skills of the drivers.
This is a great thing. Trucking is only one industry that stands to die in this country if we don’t stop DCs sellout of our sovereignty.
It's all about you, huh? You have my vote for ignorant post of the weekend.
Good for the truckers! GOOD FOR DUNCAN HUNTER, a man fighting for what is right as we speak. He is the man to steer our ship of state through the rough waters in which we find ourselves.
Al Gore is already crying.
And thankyou, Jerome Corsi, for the thread.
What if trucks are forbidden in the left lane?
"The growing opposition to the pilot program and the overall effort to grant cross-border truckers immediate and direct access into the United States should not be ignored," he said.
"People have a right to be concerned with the Mexican truck pilot program," said Hunter, "especially when it could potentially compromise their safety and our nation's security."
Hunter stressed the reasons he has introduced the NAFTA Trucking Safety Act, noting it's "important that the implementing authority listen to and thoroughly address these concerns before moving forward with the program."
Illegals are already killing more Americans here at home then are being killed in US military operations worldwide.
A few thousand more Americans dying for Mexico won't bother Bush one bit.
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