Waynes World - October 2008
DRUG & ALCOHOL RESULTS AVAILABLE ONLINE,
UNEMPLOYMENT FUND IN TROUBLE, AND...
MEXICAN SEAPORT PLANS
FULL STEAM AHEAD
by Wayne Schooling
ANOTHER FIRST FOR THE NTA. I want to say thanks to everyone for making NTA the “best low cost drug testing” on the internet. When “best low cost drug testing for trucking” was searched on the internet, of the over 500,000 listings shown, NTA was listed as number one and two in September. Also in September, NTA set another record with 157,244 visitors to our informative website (www.ntassoc.com). Thank you!
DRUG & ALCOHOL RESULTS NOW POSTED IN ARKANSAS. Disregard any of the jokes you’ve heard about the state of Arkansas. This state really takes its’ drug and alcohol tests seriously. Now, no matter if you are from Arkansas or not, chances are if you have ever taken a drug or alcohol test with an Arkansas-based trucking company, your drug and alcohol test results will be reported to the state’s new online database. Under a new law that went into effect in January 2008, Arkansas motor carriers have to search this database before doing any hiring. They also have to report any positive or refused drug and/or alcohol test results to the state. This new online system provides employers access in real time to drug and alcohol test results for commercial drivers. This new law now makes it mandatory that employers search the database before hiring a commercial driver. If a driver is found to have a positive result or refused a drug and/or alcohol test then the employer cannot hire the driver. All employers and MROs (Medical Review Officers) are now required to report any positive or refused test to the state within three (3) business days.
MEXICAN SEAPORT FULL STEAM AHEAD. It may not matter what the two local Southern California ports do in the near future. With the way the ports are trying to “micro-manage” the local motor carriers out of business, all it does is strengthen an idea that was born back in 2005. Mexico’s government is setting sail with the largest project in its nation’s history – a $4 billion seaport that it hopes will one day rival those of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Five years from now, when all of those new clean tractors are almost paid for, Punta Colonet (PC) is expected to open in 2014 with a capacity of 2 million shipping containers. But sources have revealed that they envision PC handling five times that amount. With no more threats of union strikes, no more extremely high worker wages and even cheaper trucking costs, could you blame any shipping company for changing? The only real winners will be the railroads, as most everything will be going on rail inland to the Midwest and further (see following topic). Let’s go back in time. If you remember, the “giant sucking sound” was Presidential candidate Ross Perot’s colorful phrase for what he believed would be the negative effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which he opposed. The phrase, coined during the 1992 U.S. presidential campaign, referred to the sound of U.S. jobs heading south for Mexico should the proposed free trade agreement go into effect. Perot ultimately lost the election but the winner, Bill Clinton, supported NAFTA, which went into effect on January 1, 1994. The phrase has since come into general use to describe any situation involving loss of jobs, or fear of a loss of jobs, particularly by one nation to another. Hmmm, maybe Ross Perot was right! Wait, do you hear that? Is that a sucking sound I hear? We will just have to wait and see.
MEXICAN CUSTOMS IN KANSAS CITY. A new Mexican customs office is being built in the United Sates as part of a newly designed “inland port” facility that will be linked to a Mexican seaport in Michaocán, Mexico. Sources recently affirmed that a key purpose of the Kansas City Inland Port would be to facilitate the movement of more containers from the Far East through the Mexican port at Lázaro Cárdenas, rather than the West Coast ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Kansas City Southern Railway has acquired Mexican railroads to create a “NAFTA Railroad” that would link the two points. The main purpose of opening this “inland port” is to increase the volume of containers coming from the Far East and to reduce labor costs. Longshoremen would not be employed at the port of Lázaro Cárdenas and, in Mexico, the employees of Kansas City Southern would not be United Transportation Union workers. To the extent that Mexican trucks become involved in the operation, it would mean Teamster Union drivers would not be employed in the operation. To speed the crossing at Laredo, Texas, Mexican trucks would be equipped with electronic technology so they can cross the border in express lanes. At Kansas City, the containers could then be transferred to trailers heading east or west, or simply stay on the Mexican trucks and go all the way to Canada.
MOTOR CARRIERS AND OWNER OPERATORS TAKE NOTE. Talk about coming back to bite you in the rear. Back in October 2001, the California legislature passed SB40 by Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar) that nearly doubled unemployment benefits. And after only eight years, California announced last month that the fund for paying unemployment benefits is about to go broke and will be in the red as early as March of 2009. Deborah Bronow said that the Employment Development Department (EDD) is studying various solutions, including the independent contractor situation. As the fund is sustained mainly by taxes on employers, it would be logical and prudent for them to find more employers to be taxed. Now is the time to make sure that your owner operators really are “independent” contractors. Motor carriers should only use the services of bona fide LLC’s or other types of corporations, as it can be hard to prove that sole proprietors are really in business for themselves. And, for all you owner operators out there, now is the time to consider incorporating your business to protect your “independent” status.
~ NTA remains a name you can trust. Our website (www.ntassoc.com) is your official U.S. DOT Internet Training Site and we are administrators of a Nationally Accredited Drug and Alcohol Program. If you have any questions, call me at (562) 279-0557 or send me an e-mail to wayne@ntassoc.com. Until next month, “Drive Safe – Drive Smart!”