P.M. Executive Briefing - Dec. 28

Truckers Among Safest, Most Sober Drivers On The Road

Of the 60,971 people arrested in Michigan last year for driving drunk or impaired, a mere 15 were driving trucks, even though the legal blood-alcohol content limit for CDL holders is lower.

Commodore Cartage President John Quinn Jr. said truck drivers are more aware than motorists of safety concerns, particularly being cut off by car drivers, and they need a good driving record to keep their jobs. Carriers hit truckers hard with safety messages, and truck drivers often call carriers to let them know about bad driving by their truckers, said Quinn.

Quinn did advocate increased enforcement so truckers will stick to the right lane, where by Michigan law they are supposed to be unless passing.

Truckers are also hit with fatigue, tough schedules, and wear on their trucks, and those who are younger and less experienced have more accidents. Detroit News Online (12/28/99) ; Greenwood, Tom

Appeals Court Says Trucker Can Sue After Firing

The firing was also the result of Barela openly questioning the recruitment practices at a 1994 "Safety Summit," he claimed.

A federal district judge in Salt Lake City ruled that in Utah, an "at-will" state, companies can dismiss workers anytime for any reason.

But last week the 10th Circuit federal Appeals Court in Denver ruled that employees can sue a former employer if the firing broke public policy, ordering the lower court to have a jury trial of Barela's suit. The appeals court cited the public need for road safety and fraud deterrence as public policies in Barela's case. Salt Lake Tribune Online (12/28/99) ; Foster, Shawn

Trucking Firm Sued for Race Bias

Driver Matt Antoine alleges that he was given tough assignments after he was rehired in 1997; he had fought his 1995 firing, which came after he told a supervisor about the taunts.

Dock worker Lilbert Beasley says the company did not give him what he was owed for his seniority as managers gave better treatment to white workers with less seniority. The company had to rehire Beasley twice after firing him, and he alleges that Yellow Freight told him not to go back to a worker's comp doctor for a shoulder injury.

Company spokesman Roger Dick mentioned Yellow Freight's "zero tolerance" policy on discrimination and said the company would not put up with the behavior that is claimed.

Plaintiffs Antoine, Beasley, and Sam Burnett have also complained to the federal Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. Denver Post Online (12/28/99); McKibben, Ginny

NW Arkansas Companies on Guard for New Year

According to Johnie Wood, manager of information systems security and business continuity for J.B. Hunt Transport Services, $1.8 million has been spent by the carrier on Y2K readiness. He also said 70 employees will staff the headquarters in Lowell from 6:30 a.m. Dec. 31 to 6 a.m. Jan. 1 to make sure business runs smoothly at its 18 terminals across the United States.

Springdale-based Cannon Express will not have additional people working during the Y2K rollover, but will keep their trucks rolling through midnight to fulfill customer orders, said CEO Dean Cannon.

P.A.M. Transport Services President Robert Weaver said only a small number of the Tontitown carrier's truckers will be driving at midnight that night, while employees at Harrison-based American Freightways will test their computers on Jan. 1.

Arkansas Best Corp.'s subsidiary ABF Freight System will be closed New Year's Eve, but ABF locations will be checked out by branch managers on Jan. 2. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Online (12/28/99) ; Cody, Cristal; Courteau, Sarah

Border Trade Boom Gives Rise to New Ports of Entry

Many border communities are trying for economic development at ports of entry due to booming Nafta trade. Backups of trucks at the border are the key reason behind the new ports of entry and others that have been proposed. The congestion has also led to plans for new bridges, improvements to Texas highways, and links from border crossings to interstates in California.

In San Luis, Ariz., officials want a truck port of entry, at what is currently a cattle crossing, which they hope will bring development outside San Luis and ease congestion at the downtown border crossing.

Yuma County officials also believe the proposed San Luis port would bring supply and shipment companies that would work with manufacturers on the Mexican side of the border.

Meanwhile, at Santa Teresa, construction is complete on several factories and other facilities north of the border, with more underway, and a highway from the crossing to Interstate 10 is almost complete.

Houses across the border are slated to begin construction in the spring. But the projects face legal problems as well as, critics say, limited long-term profits, possible obsolescence of the border due to free trade, and other troubles.

However, some people see the future in Imperial County, Calif., where distribution and warehouse companies have come to serve the maquiladora industry south of the border. Los Angeles Times (12/28/99) P. 1A; Ellingwood, Ken

World Watch: Deutsche Post, Air Express International

Border Backups Worsen

Truck backups were worse than car congestion at the Champlain, N.Y., border crossing, at the northern end of Interstate 87, where each truck was inspected by four people.

Many border crossings between Oswego County, N.Y., and the Vermont line do not have the size or personnel to take care of all the truck traffic there, hurting area businesses that need the trade, said the region's Congressman, Rep. John M. McHugh (R-N.Y.).

Cary Frieling of the Immigration and Naturalization Service's northern New York district said the Champlain crossing, Buffalo's Peace Bridge, and Niagara Falls' Rainbow Bridge have the most traffic right now. Traffic is also full of Canadian motorists going to New York stores and heading south for the winter. Albany (N.Y.) Times-Union Online (12/28/99) ; Fitzpatrick, Edward

Beantown's Towing Crackdown

Burlington, Vt., several years ago went after United Parcel Service for delinquent ticket payment by tracking a UPS truck's route and hiding a truck near a common stop to tow it away, twice.

The companies say towing their trucks just hurts companies that do not get their parcels on time as a result. Governing Magazine (01/00) P. 13; Swope, Christopher

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