CIFFA reports gun violence as GTA carter crisis continues
TORONTO, Ont. – Though yesterday’s reports from the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association’s (CIFFA) daily news bulletin suggested the GTA’s cartage crisis would soon be resolved, those feelings were quickly dashed as the CIFFA reported scenes of violence, including gunfire, that came from a “small group of extremist drivers” Tuesday night.
Today’s CIFFA bulletin reported that the group of drivers “apparently rejected the offer” put forth Tuesday night and to “reinforce their will, they resorted to extreme violence” which the CIFFA said included tires being slashed, windows broken and working drivers being shot at.
“This group of terrorist/extremist drivers have no social conscience, no community spirit, no appreciation for the extreme efforts undertaken by the community to reach out and bring an equitable settlement to fruition … They belong, in other words, to the bottom of the human barrel,” the CIFFA bulletin read.
The CIFFA went on to report that the “thugs” in question were “at various terminal gates (Thursday), taking note of drivers working…(u)ndoubtedly to do harm later when out of the public’s eye.”
Though the CIFFA said the majority of drivers were willing to go back to work, they were forced to stay off the job again because of the threat of violence. The CIFFA said that as a consequence the Owners Association met Wednesday morning to discuss the situation.
“As you have now heard and learned, there is no central partner with authority to deal with,” today’s bulletin read. “There is only a loose and partially violent collection of drivers where each has a voice but where a small group of thugs impose their will on a majority.”
In the end, the CIFFA reported that the owners agreed late Wednesday with the driver’s representatives to an increase of 25 per cent more than the average of the presently billed highway rates.
“However, there is no sense to make any further predictions about the outcome this time around. It may hold – or it may not!”
The CIFFA was not available for comment when this story went to print.
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