Really?
I think that the problem many point to isn't with the Mexicans or the preconceived notion that they will ruin the country with their presence on this side of the border but rather looking at the "players" of this issue, like the teamsters who can't benefit from them being here because they can not legally organize them. If they can organize, I bet my truck and my other truck and my van plus my cats that you would never hear a peep out of Hoffa AND you would see non-English speaking driver in those trucks.
Big box American truckers are still Americans.
Yep I gree to a point. A lot of those big box drivers are also part of a greater problem in the industry - the revolving door system and the cause of the CSA to be created to weed out substandard drivers. Which do we want, drivers who have finished school, let loose in a tractor and not be able to handle it or someone who knows if they screw up, they lose their job and their family starves?
And you don't think Mexican truckers run cheap freight? WOW........their overhead is alot cheaper than ours due to less intrusion by their government and less regulations.
Well the government is cheaper but the overhead for a company there isn't. See there are two things that I understand happen, one is that when an employer hires a driver, they are paying for a lot of stuff for that driver and the cost to that company to maintain two things; liability insurance and health care. There are no real 1099s in Mexico, they are employees and the company has to pay a specific wage while maintaining a specific benefits package. The driver also has a BIG obstacle to deal with, the Mexican legal system doesn't treat accidents as accidents which means they let the driver slide - a driver can lose everything and go to jail for things that we take for granted are minor or BS things.
Why do some people on here stand up for the Mexicans more than fighting for the rights of their fellow Americans....oh that's right its about being politically correct and not wanting to offend anyone.
I fight for my fellow professional drivers when I can but in this case I am not going to fight for the teamster driver nor any revolving door system that I feel cheapened the profession. It has to do with their jumping into the driver's seat taking work away from those who maintain a professional demeanor at all times. The union driver doesn't give a crap what happens to me or many independents because we are not union. The same goes for a company driver who has just finished a month training with the company and is let loose on the road without a clue how to act professional.
After talking to some of the independents (and company drivers) from Mexico, they feel they are painted in a bad way as scab drivers by most in this industry on this side of the border (a lot like the Indian drivers being treated in Canada) but most who explained the system to me stressed that this won't be a case where our industry will fall apart because of a few thousand Mexican drivers on the road. One even went so far as to ask why we don't care about Canadian drivers while we are concern with Mexican drivers.
Personally, I don't care if o offend anyone regarding this issue....cause its me, my fellow drivers and America first.
I would agree but for me it is far beyond this subject that we are having problems with - it is the overall ignorance that many have about US jobs vs. US companies. Many think that buying a US company product helps with jobs but they fail to get what's behind that product. I get a laugh at the same time I feel sorry for the guy or gal who has their little bumper sticker on their car that says "Have you lost your job yet? Keep buying foreign" while it is stuck to the back of a Dodge Caravan. A Caravan that is made in a foreign country by foreign workers.
The problems are decades old, things are just moving faster as the slippery slope steepens.
