Unpaid truck drivers urge federal lawmakers to reform industry
Truck drivers claiming unpaid wages protested in Brampton, Ont., on Sept. 21 demanding action from the federal government.
Truckers delivered letters over the weekend to more than 40 members of parliament seeking comprehensive reform in the industry.
“Truck drivers, particularly those hired under the Temporary Foreign Worker program, face significant abuses,” the letter states.
The drivers said they are often forced to work in unsafe conditions, deprived of basic human needs such as access to washrooms and healthy food options.
Navi Aujla, executive director, Labour Community Services of Peel, helped organize the protest. She said, “We are working with 130 truck drivers who are owed more than $1 million in unpaid wages and illegal deductions.”
Employers are getting away with ignoring government orders to pay wages. She added that her non-profit is working with 29 workers who have more than $300,000 in unpaid wages that employers refuse to pay and “they’re getting away without consequence.”
Driver Manjinder Singh told TruckNews.com that a company owes him more than $10,000 in unpaid wages. Another trucker, Chandpreet Singh claims he is owed $8,000. Eight drivers from the company he worked for are claiming a total of $80,000 in unpaid wages.
Some trucking companies abuse drivers in other ways as well, Aujla said. Some treat drivers as independent contractors when they are really employees.
Driver Inc. model
TruckNews.com asked some of the drivers who were protesting whether they were company drivers or part of the Driver Inc. model. They said they were incorporated. Upon further questioning, some admitted they chose Driver Inc. because their earnings would be higher, while others claimed were compelled by carriers to choose the incorporated model.
The letter to the lawmakers calls for an increase in proactive enforcement and penalties for companies that misclassify workers as independent contractors by using the Driver Inc. model. Owner-operators working for a company should also be protected under the Canada Labour Code, the letter states. They are also urging the code’s enforcement provisions be modernized.
Illegal deductions
Aujla also noted some carriers deny workers their overtime pay, vacation pay, holiday pay, and make illegal deductions. New companies are demanding that drivers work for lower wages, she added.
Drivers are seeking fair compensation that legislators can bring about by implementing comprehensive reforms within the labor code.
Standardized hourly wages for non-driving tasks
The drivers are demanding payment for actual miles driven as some companies calculate compensation based on the shortest theoretical routes generated by computer systems.
They are also asking for standardized hourly wages for all non-driving tasks, including loading, unloading, vehicle inspections and waiting at various places. They also want minimum per-mile rates for highway driving that could be periodically reviewed and adjusted in line with inflation, fuel prices and economic factors.
They want the government to do away with driver-facing cameras as it “is a troubling trend that invades the privacy of drivers.”
Have your say
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yes and guess what it works it is insane the way this country is going.
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Excellent deduction
This has got a lot worse in the past 9 years but has been going on by some of the biggest trucking companies since 1990 if not before. The changes that are thet key are need to make this happen look when a good contract for both sides ai signed at the container ports in B C how companies try to find a way around it and lobby well placed people.
The fed should retroactively go back to Jan 1 of 2024 for drivers that do not own or lease their power units for any company with over 5 company owned units and require the company to put them on payroll in my opinion. I would be happy to help audit the companies for free.
We need to set proper wage rates to take effect at the end of this year for all transport workers from drivers to mechanical people to pilots to maintenance people on the railroad
This the next thing that a number of people that work in the trucking industry and Uber drivers and the air cargo industry and school bus drivers are pushing for. I am very happy to work both with drivers that have full citizenship and those trying to be get their P R and support their own family. This will be almost impossible to achieve despite support of a number of people that are well placed in the federal gov ( that will oppose) that we talk to on a weekly basis.
@Paul Bauman … Right on the button. Identify the Driver Inc. drivers, get them their wages, less the taxes they owe, and take away their TFW status for Tax Fraud. Let the rest of the chips fall where they may.
@Stephen Webster … When, in the entire history of mankind, has your socialist agenda ever worked? I’ll save you the time to look it up … never. It never has worked, and it never will work. Everyone wants better for themselves even if it is at the cost of someone else. Socialism can never work. People themselves are just too different.
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I offered a solution that will encourage people to go into trucking on payroll . This will cause a surplus of truck drivers and reduce crashes. The taxpayers of Canada are covering the cost of the former truck drivers that end up in homeless shelters and the health care costs of those like myself. This is partly why are health care. System is overloaded. How do suggest we as a industry fix these problems or should it fall to the nonprofits and the taxpayers ?
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How do you fix the problem(s) for drivers? Make it a trade like a plumber, carpenter, or electrician. The biggest problem with truck driving is any chimp from anywhere in the world can come, and if they can’t do anything else, they can drive a truck. If you make it a trade, then you enjoy a finite pool of drivers, and you have a safer road ecosystem. Chances are that finite pool of drivers will become unionized, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. At the end of the day it solves everyone’s problems, everyone except the end consumer of course.
The one thing you never want to have happen is government oversight. Remember, the government is not there to help you.-
I would support a union or associatiom to protect truck drivers like the ports in B C have across Canada
I think I said the same thing in a different way.
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WOW! If I were them, I would go back home! It’s terrible that when they cheat the government out of proper payroll deductions, they are cheated! Canada must be a horrible place. LEAVE!
Because they are incorporated and chose to avoid taxes, they are just wasting everyone’s time. Hire some lawyers and start seizing equipment. If they are paying all taxes to home province and FEDERAL taxes, perhaps they are able to seek assistance. In no way should other tax paying, legal drivers be forced to support them financially.
This the cost of Driver Inc. There is no protection for the driver. It amazes me the these TFW come in manipulate the law then when the scheme blows up want to be rescued by the same government (taxpayers) that they have been cheating,should be grounds for removal from country
Wow, great article. If you are “incorporated” you are a business entity period. Feels like a have your cake and try to eat too scenario here.
Come on man, Driver Inc is a symptom of a disease. By refusing to tell a friend that they have a new growth on their face for fear of hurting their feelings won’t do them much good when the growth turns out to be cancer. You need to get after that problem straight away.
I’m done being nice. This disease has forced us to shut down our trucking company this week, taking everything we had with it.
My partner and I are native Canadians, we have paid our dues. We employed a lot of people on payroll meaning DAS, workers comp etc. We put food on the tables of those people for many years. We contributed to our local economy , local vendors, capital injections etc.
We are now bankrupt due to the Canadian government and the people of Canada that either can’t see what is happening or are too afraid to speak up for fear of being labelled a racist. Guys the racist label is a dog whistle, don’t be fooled. I’m no racist, I’m that buy that stands up for the underdog and right now the underdog is Canada, the states know how to deal with this on their own we are dealing with a frontal assault of epic proportion and the trucking industry is only the first industry to go down; you have real estate, corner stores, car dealerships, construction etc.
Personally I am amazed and appalled that all of m comments never get published, maybe it’s time to relinquish my citizen ship because I will not be a spectator as the disease spreads. Truck News if you want a story drip me a line, there is so much I can talk about it’s not funny, this is a big problem.
So let me get this straight. These Driver Inc drivers were willing to be paid as an Inc driver to avoid paying the government taxes,workers comp, CPP etc and now when they get screwed over by their employers they run to that same government ,the one they have been screwing over, for help. I just have to shake my head at their logic.