Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123742489945279423.html
MARCH 19, 2009
U.S. Says Union Pacific Trains Move Drugs Across Border

By JOEL MILLMAN

MEXICO CITY -- U.S. rail giant Union Pacific has been accused of transporting illegal drugs, virtually all marijuana, aboard trains it leased coming in from Mexico on 58 occasions since late 2001, according to court papers and evidence filed in a dispute between the company and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

On Wednesday, the U.S. responded by suing Union Pacific in San Diego and Houston, saying the rail company had failed to prevent the smuggling of illegal drugs by rail into the U.S., including one case involving cocaine. Two recent drug seizures occurred this month in Calexico, the border crossing east of San Diego. Another took place in late February in El Paso, Texas.

Union Pacific
Marijuana was hidden in this rail car, which crossed into the U.S.
Since 2001 Union Pacific has been slapped by the U.S. government with fines totaling just under $38 million overall, court filings indicate. The Omaha, Neb., company is contesting the fines in U.S. district court there. U.S. authorities had until midnight Friday to respond to the railroad's petition for relief.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/unions-to-demonstrate-globally-against-mexican-shipments,736667.shtml
Unions to Demonstrate Globally Against Mexican Shipments
Posted : Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:50:37 GMT
Author : United Steelworkers (USW)

SAN FRANCISCO, March 3 USW-Mexican-Shipments

Miners, Dockworkers Censure Mexican Government over Grupo Mexico Attack

SAN FRANCISCO, March 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Unions representing workers around the globe in the mining and maritime industries announced last week that they will protest shipment of goods to and from Mexico to pressure the Mexican government to end its support of corporate attempts to destroy the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico known as Los Mineros.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080131/DC12982LOGO)

The unions, representing hundreds of thousands of dockworkers and miners in North America, South Africa, Australia and the UK, plan to conduct demonstrations in countries as diverse as the U.S. and New Zealand.

The Mexican government is backing Grupo Mexico, that nation's largest mining corporation and the third largest copper producer in the world, in its long-running campaign to destroy Los Mineros and its leader, Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, who has been forced to live in exile because of persecution by Mexican government officials.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20080725-9999-1m25colonet.html

Bid details expected soon for big port project

By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

July 25, 2008

TIJUANA – Mexico's federal government plans to publish bid specifications for the massive Punta Colonet container port and rail project south of Ensenada by the end of September, Luis Téllez, the country's secretary of transportation and communications, said yesterday.

“We are very advanced with Punta Colonet,” Téllez said during a news conference in Mexico City, speaking of the government's preparation of its rules for the project. “I don't want to commit to a date . . . I will commit to before the end of this quarter.”
The megaport would be about 150 miles from San Diego, and it would route Asian cargo through Mexico to the American heartland. It would be built in tandem with a rail link that would carry containers from Punta Colonet to the U.S.-Mexico border.

The project would transform a small coastal community into a port that rivals Long Beach and Los Angeles, which both face increasing congestion with the rapid growth of trans-Pacific trade.

A number of groups have expressed interest in the project, which Téllez said would entail an initial private investment of $4.5 billion. The release of bid specifications by the Mexican government had been announced for last month, but the magnitude of the project caused delays, Téllez said.