OTTAWA, — When it comes to trucking, many carriers feel Canada’s Labour Code is hopelessly out of date. The good news is that the government may be trying to do something about it.

No less than 78 percent of all complaints to the Client Education & Training Branch of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada-Labour Program come from the trucking sector.

That statistic should come as no surprise. Much of the Canada Labour Code — especially the labour-standards section (Part III) — is confusing and out of step with today’s industry.

For example: a city driver is entitled to overtime after 45 hours a week, but a highway driver has to clock 60. The Code deals with hourly pay when most drivers are paid by the mile. The incongruities go on and on. In some cases, provincial regulations differ from the federal regulations, and drivers as well as human resources staff are often confused about which jurisdiction workers fall under, adding to the potential for calamity.

For the first time since the Code’s inception in 1965, the Labour Program office of Human Resources Development Canada has launched a commission with a general mandate to review labour standards and to submit a list of recommendations.

This is where truckers come in. The Commission wants to hear from interested experts, business, labour, and community organizations, as well as individual workers and employers.

“Basically, the areas we’re interested in hearing about from the trucking industry involve labour standards — hours of work, overtime, vacation, holidays, benefits and entitlements you would get in a work relationship,” says David Leroux, a technical advisor on labour standards with the Client Education & Training Branch of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada-Labour Program. “In trucking, [the driver’s] whole compensation package is based on a variety of things and so many possibilities, so the potential for a calculation problem is there all the time. All of which contributes to the number of complaints we get.”

Leroux suspects the commission will hear from people who’ve had problems with vacations, general holidays, and overtime, not to mention hours-of-service woes and “what is on duty, what is off duty — because we run in tandem with federal transportation laws and U.S. laws, so there’s complication simply between government agencies that needs harmonization and what the commission should address.”

Here’s a few of the questions the Commission wants to answer:

— Do any current provisions of Part III of the Canada Labour Code need improvement? Are there problems with the application of Part III of the Code that need examining? What works and what doesn’t work from your perspective? Please describe any solutions you feel might allow the Code to work more effectively.

— Are there any important workplace issues not currently covered by Part III of the Code that should be regulated by labour standards legislation?

— Should any issue currently covered under Part III of the Code be dealt with elsewhere instead, such as another federal statute (for example, the Canadian Human Rights Act)?

Self-employed persons are not covered under Part III of the Canada Labour Code. In addition, certain provisions, such as hours of work, do not apply to managers and specified professionals. Should these exclusions be revised, eliminated or extended? If so, what criteria should be applied?

Aside from a few amendments made here and there, the Canada Labour Code’s standards have not been scrutinized in 40 years, so proponents say this is a real opportunity to help bring these regulations into the modern age.