Legislative Activities During Tenure
Hoffa earned a reputation as an advocate for fair trade and worker safety. He transformed the Teamsters into a premier political force by changing alliances and rhetoric unpredictably.
Under his leadership, the Teamsters ended a federal program that allowed Mexican truckers to haul goods beyond the border zone in the United States. The Teamsters strongly opposed a trade deal with Colombia through lobbying and street protests, and were credited with helping to prevent a similar trade deal with Panama.
The Teamsters successfully encouraged Congress to pass legislation increasing rail security in 2007.
The Teamsters sued the Bush administration in 2005 to overturn regulations that extended the number of hours a driver could spend behind the wheel of a truck. The Teamsters argued the rule would contribute to driver fatigue. The Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia sided with the Teamsters, but it was the Obama administration that finally agreed to change the rule.
Under his leadership, the Teamsters ended a federal program in 2009 that allowed Mexican truckers to haul goods beyond the border zone in the United States. Hoffa predicted the failure of a second version of the program in October 2011, and challenged it in federal court.
In September 2010, President Obama appointed Hoffa to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.
Read more about this topic: James P. Hoffa
Famous quotes containing the words legislative, activities and/or tenure:
“Freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society, and made by the legislative power vested in it; a liberty to follow my own will in all things, when the rule prescribes not, and not to be subject to the inconstant, unknown, arbitrary will of another man.”
—John Locke (1632–1704)
“No culture on earth outside of mid-century suburban America has ever deployed one woman per child without simultaneously assigning her such major productive activities as weaving, farming, gathering, temple maintenance, and tent-building. The reason is that full-time, one-on-one child-raising is not good for women or children.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“A politician never forgets the precarious nature of elective life. We have never established a practice of tenure in public office.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)