My Headlines

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Teamsters show up at Federal courthouse to stop Mexican domiciled vehicles from roaming the roads in the USA

8:00 AM this morning 450 Teamsters arrived at the Federal Courthouse in San Francisco, Ca. To rally against the NAFTA Mexican domiciled vehicle pilot program, which would allow trucks to venture the country while not adhering to US transportation laws. Did I mention the imminent job losses to American citizens, looking ahead I can see every grocery store and supply house in this country picking up and going directly to Mexico, the writings on the wall. You can see the last story I wrote covering the Fire Mary Peters campaign and some background to this story which I have been covering over the past 8 months. Check out:

Teamsters hit airwaves to fire Sec.Of Transportation Mary Peters for putting US citizens lives at risk

Then read the next one and consider how eager the company mentioned would be to move directly to Mexico, what would the stores have to do, order a day earlier?

NY: Waldbaum's and A&P screwing 400 local employees and moving to nonunion facilities

Think of all the distributors here in the city and surrounding area, think of all those warehouse jobs, those workers who would be displaced.

It will happen, you can help stop it, spread the word, sign the E-Active message at FireMaryPeters.com that goes directly to your Representatives inbox

Grabbed this story directly from the Teamster's, You can view the original at any of the links below:
1) http://www.firemarypeters.com. 2) http://www.teamsterpower.com
Standing Together Is The Most Powerful Thing There Is

The Teamsters woke San Francisco today with a rock ‘em, sock ‘em rally against open borders to unsafe trucks from Mexico.

They began to arrive at dawn, on streetcar and in semis, on bicycles and on foot, on motorcycles and buses. By 8 a.m., 450 Teamsters stretched the length of the city block in front of the federal courthouse. There the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals would soon hear the case against Transportation Secretary Mary Peters’ cross-border truck pilot program.

Seven Teamster trucks circled the block and blared their air horns as Teamsters cheered and chanted “We Are Teamsters!” and “Fire Mary Peters!”

A constant tattoo of horns came from the streetcars, buses, trucks and cars in the traffic that flowed in front of the rally. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” said a Federal Protective officer.

“I’m exuberant,” said Paul Faaola, a rank-and-file member of local 85 in San Francisco. “This just cause I believe the Teamsters Union was made for.”

Local 287 President Bob Blanchet – who had put his heart and soul into organizing the action – beamed throughout the rally. That is, when he wasn’t shouting into a bullhorn.

International President Chuck Mack revved up the crowd from atop a flatbed truck parked in front of the courthouse. “Mary Peters must be fired!” he shouted to cheers. “The only problem is George Bush is her boss. We gotta fire George Bush in November!” he shouted to more cheers.

Tony Gonzalez, secretary-treasurer of local 890 in Salinsa, Calif., told the crowd that Mexican truck drivers oppose the program too. “They fear it will destroy the trucking industry there,” he said. Teamsters waved both Mexican and American flags.

Tears came to the eyes of many Teamsters as David Jennings described how he lost his mother, father and 19-year-old son in a crash caused by a Mexican truck that suffered a catastrophic drive train failure. That failure could have been prevented by a border inspection.

“NAFTA has already compromised our jobs,” he said from the flatbed truck parked outside the court. “NAFTA has already compromised our environment. Now it’s being pushed to compromise our lives.”

Jennings later watched the panel of three judges grill attorneys representing the Teamsters and representing Mary Peters. They will rule later on the case.

Afterward, Paul Faaola reflected on what the rally meant beyond a wake-up call to the City of San Francisco.

“These are the times much harder than for our fathers or their fathers,” he said. “It’s harder to organize. Standing together is the most powerful thing there is.”

To see more images from the rally, please click here.

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