B.C. tribunal highlights trucking’s underground economy and labor law abuse
The B.C. Employment Standards Tribunal has acknowledged the trucking industry is one of the largest underground economies and international human trafficking rings in the country, according to the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA).
Recently, CBC reported on a worker from India, Harminder Singh, who said he paid $25,000 to obtain a job at a truck repair facility in Richmond, B.C., and was then shorted wages. The company was forced to pay him more than $115,000 after the Tribunal ruling.
“The horrific immigration and employment situation that Mr. Singh and his family had to experience, is experienced by countless of people coming to Canada each year who want to work in the trucking industry,” said Stephen Laskowski, president and CEO of the CTA.
“CTA has been trying to end this treatment of workers in the trucking industry, but our voice has mostly fallen upon deaf ears in government. Unfortunately, Mr. Singh’s story is one of thousands that is occurring in the trucking industry across Canada.”
The CTA alleged a vast network, including immigration consultants, driver training institutes, job placement firms and trucking companies, exploit foreign workers. In many cases, the scheme charges a worker a ‘head tax’.
While Singh’s employer had to pay him back wages, it was only fined $4,000 for violating the Employment Standards Act.
“Since 2016, the Canadian Trucking Alliance has been compelling governments at every level to enact meaningful enforcement against labor rights violators and protect the rights of workers in Canada – both foreign and domestic,” said Laskowski. “The Government of Canada, specifically ESDC and Immigration Canada, need to end this abuse of foreign labor, protect workers and human rights, and in doing so clean up the trucking sector that is rife with these abuses.”
“For nearly a decade the BC Trucking Association (BCTA) has been calling for significant, sustained improvement of enforcement for all labor and safety regulation in the trucking industry,” added Dave Earle, president of the BCTA. “Mr. Singh’s experience should never have happened, and it’s not unique. It is far past time for governments at all levels to get serious about eliminating exploitation and abuse of workers.”
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Unfortunately it seems those coming to Canada for a better life are being abused by their own kind.
In my opinion, when governments turn a blind eye to this abuse, it trickles down to all aspects of the transportation of goods – from OTR safety to cargo damage, fraud and theft among others. It unfairly falls on the shoulders of we, who are in the industry, to try to repair and control the damage caused.
Why are the readers surprised? Immigration bad actors have flourished since time immemorial. With the insiders they have in every municipal, provincial, and federal government offices, they can’t lose. Fire those insiders, and you will see a decline in these outrageous human rights violations.
This is not news. The Driver Inc and related issues only exist because of the lack of political will to attack this problem. The beneficiaries of the misclassification and abuse of immigrant drivers are politically savvy and connected. They put their money and ability to deliver blocks of votes to good use. The result is a corrupted system.
Hi- unfortunately this group of people take advantage of their own most often, Canadians are not to blame.
Is there an echo in here? The misclassification and abuse of foreign workers who come to Canada to drive trucks is well documented and this “revelation” by the BC Employment Standards Tribunal is another round of government tub-thumping that will lead to nothing and nowhere. The most obvious reason for a response of little more than pearl clutching by all levels of government is that the beneficiaries of this illegality are politically savvy and are a force to be reckoned with locally, provincially, and federally. With the ability to raise significant amounts of cash, generate substantial new party member sign-ups, and marshal large blocks of voters, the architects of this equivalent of human trafficking are safely above the fray. Crude politics at it’s worst.
Driver Inc. is by far the largest scam in the Canadian trucking industry. Not only does it take advantage of new, and experienced drivers, it also costs the Canadian economy millions of dollars in unreported income, employer payroll taxes, and employee taxes. Then add in lost EI premiums, CPP contributions, and workers compensation premiums. This employment model also directly impacts on road safety through a lack of employer accountability.
Back in January of 2020 I and at least 50 other people from a number trucking companies and disabled truck drivers and health care workers tried to point this problem. And tried to offer solutions when asked were effectively lobbied against by certain trucking companies and 2 large groups that represented on behalf of consultants and foreign students that wanted to be truck drivers. I put my name out publicly as a spoke person and was ras__t and had my life and properties threatened including a 22 000 sg foot building burt by arson by lighting 3 places at once.