By Daniel Rangel
Earlier this winter, a groundbreaking access agreement was signed between a scrappy Mexican labor union and a major trucking company hauling millions of dollars’ worth of Hyundai products across the Mexico–U.S. border. The deal was made possible by a labor enforcement complaint that we at Rethink Trade filed with the Mexican truck drivers’ union, and it marks a major victory for a five-year movement seeking to transform a sector long plagued by labor abuses and corporate misconduct. Less noted at the time, but equally as important, it also offers up a promising new way to curb corporations’ demands that Mexican truck drivers illegally handle fully domestic U.S. runs.
For decades, corporations have leveraged the billions of dollars in cross-border trade between the United States and Mexico to not just underpay Mexican truck drivers, but to pressure them into engaging in what’s called cabotage—that is, when truckers registered in one country handle fully domestic shipments in another. This is prohibited under U.S. law, but bottom-line business incentives and relative powerlessness of low-paid Mexican drivers often lead companies to ignore the regulations. Union contracts with stronger protections for workers might well change the underlying dynamic.
The 2,000-mile land border between the United States and Mexico and the massive trading relationship that connects the two countries mean that nearly 6 million commercial trucks enter the United States from Mexico each year. On any given day, roughly 16,300 truck drivers cross the border hauling auto parts, electronics, produce, and many other goods destined for the U.S. market.
Read the full story on The Economic Populist
Originally published in The Economic Populist — a project of the American Economic Liberties Project.