The Keystruckers

Driving Jobs Lost to Mexican Trucks

(or how we let those in power screw us over)

Well, another slap in the face to the American truck driver.  Since the signing of the free trade agreement we have been waiting for the mexican trucks to have the right to bring goods over here from mexico.  The goods that are made down there are supposedly ”needed” for America to operate.  If we don’t let the Mexican trucks bring the goods into this country, Mexico has threatened ”huge tariffs” or “fines” if you will, to be levied on the goods. 

This in one of the worst examples of leadership I or anyone else has ever seen and absolutely makes no sense at all.  First of all, american companies “outsource” the labor overseas and to Mexico.  “Here Mexico, screw over the american worker and take his job away and I (the supposedly “american” company) will get personal gain from the transactions while screwing over all my employees and putting them out of work.   “Oh, thank you America for letting all my people go to work producing your goods.” We will sell them back to you cheaper than you can make them in america…for now..hahaha.”  Once we have all the stuff you really need down here in Mexico we are going to sell it back to you at double the price and really bend you over the rail, but we are not going to talk about that until we have you under our power”.

Then it happens..time to pay the piper because yes, america needs the goods produced down there.  Yes they are steadily increasing the prices of their goods brought back to the U.S.  Pretty soon, the cost of producing the goods in Mexico will cost the same as it would have if we had not “outsourced” the jobs to begin with.  Corporate greed and rampant capitalism took those jobs over there to begin with. 

As part of the “free trade” agreement, Mexico has the right to deliver into the U.S. and to also “reload” back to Mexico but no point to point in the U.S.  This is the same agreement that we made with Canada back when we started hauling into their country.  Canada didn’t take it so well either.  I remember hearing about how they met the American trucks at the border and set fire to them.  Burned em right down to the ground right at the border, but that is another story.

As I understand it by listening to various radio shows and reading on the subject, Mexican trucks will have to be outfitted with a G.P.S. device (who pays for that is still undecided) and meet all the other requirements of the E.P.A. and F.M.C.S.A rules and regulations.  I guess this mean none of the old J.B.Hunt and Schneider cabovers will be running the roads over here. 

I think it’s time for America and Americans to wake up to what is really going on before we lose this country to foreign countries who really don’t have our best interest at heart. 

So, in summary, american companies involved in the “free trade” agreement, who screwed over their workers by outsourcing their labor are now paying just as much for their goods as if they hadn’t done the deal to begin with.  To top it off, now Mexico gets to “in source” labor by having their trucks deliver the shit they make down there too.   It’s truly a sad time in this country. 

In future blogs I will include contact information for all the states congressmen and senators and I for one will be writing to mine, and if he was in office when this “Deal” got done, he’s gonna get an earful from me.

Let’s try to do something about this..

Jim