OTA meets with Sikh truckers to address shared issues

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TORONTO, Ont. — The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) and members of the Sikh trucking community have come together to address common concerns.

The two groups met over the weekend at the OTA’s offices. More than 40 representatives from the OTA and the Canadian Sikh Association (CSA) participated. The Sikh drivers expressed concerns about their rights to wear their turbans, however much of the discussion focused on issues that are universal across the industry, the OTA reports.

“Trucking is trucking, in the end. Most of the issues raised are the same everywhere, regardless of carrier size or the ethnic origin of carriers and owner-operators,” said OTA president David Bradley. “While this was the first meeting of its kind, everyone who attended agreed it was very constructive.”

“Going into the meeting we were not sure what to expect, but we were received very well by OTA and its board members who were in attendance,” said Simran Kaur Chattha, chair of the Canadian Sikh Association. “Through dialogue we hope to promote a better understanding between Sikh truckers and the membership of OTA which is a very effective voice for the industry.”

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  • Rules are rules, there should be no exceptions. It’s for your safety to wear a hard hat. What is the sense of having rules that is always being changed to please everyone? If everybody follows the rules put into place then we would not be spend our time or money on meetings like this now or in the future

  • Although I realize the fact that a turbin will never replace a hard hat from a safety point of view, the US army found that if a Sikh wore their sport turbine Instead of the normal one,that hardhats just as effective.

  • Lets just say he or she enters a work place with no hard.lets just say he gets some kind of head impact. What happens now.? He can sue? What about insurance or medical? Did anybody about that? Should the company be on the hook for him not wear the proper protection or we the people be on the hook. I’m pretty sure they or the family are going to due.

  • I say go ahead, wear your traditional wear. Just sign a waiver on the responsibility, when entering on other property.