This is from a tech labor activist's blog, I didn't write it.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/2/161453/0547

Why Techies Should Support the Teamsters
by BobOak
Sun Sep 02, 2007 at 04:59:54 PM PDT

There for the grace of God go I. It's that simple.

On Friday:

the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the emergency injunction filed by the Teamsters, Sierra Club and Public Citizen, saying the petition failed to meet legal hurdles. The case now must be argued before the court


Unsafe Mexican Trucks

So what does this have to do with me? Well, everything!

BobOak's diary :: ::
The Teamsters have been battling the Bush administration and NAFTA for their labor arbitrage, union busting and lack of safety regulations Mexican trucker agenda for 15 years.

Here is a history.
May 15, the House of Representatives passed the Safe American Roads Act of 2007 (H. R. 1773), by an overwhelming bipartisan 411-3 margin. The bill then promptly was buried in Senate committee while the Bush administration pressured Senators to allow Mexican trucks into the U.S.

What this means in terms of safety, environmental and jobs, from More Squeeze on Colorado Working People

By next week, there may very well be Mexican trucks hauling Chinese-made products into Colorado. The American trucker will then be an 'endangered species'. Wal-Mart, for example, can then get its cheap Chinese goods imported into a Mexican port, put on Mexican trucks, and then it's straight to distribution centers inside the U.S. That means American longshoreman cut out, Teamsters cut out, middle class prosperity cut out -- but bigger profits for Wal-Mart. Of course, the benefit to you, Bush and the transnational corporations will say, is yet even cheaper priced consumer products.


Please note the real slap in the face, the Mexican Truck Pilot Program starts on Labor Day.

From Rob Sanchez a long time newsletter writer on tech worker issues:

Here's the problem in United States labor issues today -- people only respond when their feet are held to the fire. As soon as the heat is removed they are gone.

There is no solidarity, especially among professionals who are non-union. That means techies.

In spite of the efforts of WashTech and the IFPTE, most STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Professionals are not members of a union.

People get fired, they get displaced, many simply get pushed out of their careers, which requires years of education and training...yet -- every time somebody finds a job, the heat is off momentarily, they can pay their bills again....and we lose an activist. The movement is sort of self-destructive for the minute someone starts working...wham, they stop speaking up.

There is a more fundamental problem with the United States at large:

A lack of community in this nation. Everyone out for themselves is an exalted value

The Netroots is most assuredly a community, yet how many people support Professional unions, professional workers and how many of those will write their congress representatives about this blatant disregard for the Teamsters and American truckers?

So here's the real question, are you going to support the Teamsters despite the fact you are not a trucker and assume they will support you for your workers rights, economic security and job?

Or is it just another labor issue that you do not care about because it doesn't affect your job....YET?

Are you going to let these multinational corporations divide and conquer working America or are you listening to various labor groups issues and supporting them?

For the reality is, if you support them, you are supporting yourself. Public Citizen and the Sierra Club are supporting the teamsters. If we expect these organizations to support STEM professionals, we need to be in solidarity.



We cannot do this alone. There are not enough STEM professionals in the United States to sway an election. But we can if we get support from the rest of working America and that starts by supporting other workers.

Don't make this a dog eat dog world for one day eventually you are next up on the labor arbitrage chopping block...one day, you're lunch.



In case you don't remember, when Senator Bernie Sanders introduced an amendment to modify the H-1B guest worker program fees(the notorious offshore outsourcing Visa). The Teamsters supported this Pro-Professional worker amendment. The Teamsters were right there, within minutes of the announcement by Senator Sanders, even though this issue doesn't particularly affect their members.

From a PBS report, which has a good overview of the issues:

At some point, under the North American Free Trade Agreement, large numbers of Mexican trucks will be allowed to bring freight across the border, and their current out-of-service rate is over 40 percent