Laskowski: Non-compliant fleets a giant drag
HALIFAX, N.S. – The president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance made an impassioned plea Wednesday for action against carriers involved in illegal and unsafe activities in the hiring of foreign drivers.
“We need to cut this out like a cancer,” Stephen Laskowski said of fleets exploiting unsuspecting foreign job seekers.
His comments followed a recent expose by the Globe and Mail, which revealed that even carriers with a history of multiple-injury accidents and safety violations were cleared to hire newcomers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
Laskowski told delegates at the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association annual conference in Halifax, N.S., that it is time to deal with the issue.
He reminded them that stopping the immigration programs is not the answer because “90% of all labor growth in all industries (in Canada) is tied to immigration”.
But he offered an easy way out: Don’t allow companies that do not have safety and labor protocols in place to participate in immigration programs.
“Access to immigration shouldn’t be a right, it should be a privilege.”
Laskowski called the non-compliant fleets a “giant drag” on the broader trucking industry. He said non-compliance is actually a business plan to gain a market advantage, and governments had allowed it to continue.
“We don’t need that garbage. We don’t need a three-page expose about that stuff that goes on in our industry, and we need to start holding federal and provincial governments accountable to do something about it.”
He said the alliance will launch its own campaign soon to bolster the industry’s image.
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“He said non-compliance is actually a business plan to gain a market advantage, and governments had allowed it to continue.”
Well said, and very true. In Ontario, there is also little enforcement and a lack of enforcement only harms the law-abiding carriers. The government’s job is to enact laws to protect is people. If they do not enforce the law then the government is not doing its job.
More enforcement is the only answer. Only with more enforcement can the government get the data it needs to shut down these carriers who use non-compliance as their business plan.
“We don’t need that garbage. We don’t need a three-page expose about that stuff that goes on in our industry, and we need to start holding federal and provincial governments accountable to do something about it.”
So the chickens have come home to roost. I’d be quite surprised if most of the trucking companies taking advantage of this program were not also OTA members.
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They are O T A members when I told the O T A and C T A about their members doing improper treatment of truck drivers they told me that they were members and that would be a conflict to help these truck drivers.
This has been ongoing for years. Why does it take a journalist’s article to enlighten the government and our voice, the CTA?
If one digs deep enough you can see immigration programs are just scratching the surface. Family sponsorship programs, which actually run counter to the temporary foreign worker or provincial nominee requirements, show a much darker side.
Servitude is alive and well in Canada.
Quote:
“We don’t need that garbage.”
My thoughts are exactly about trucking associations and the incompetent government who can’t even maintain public roads and highways during snowfalls.
One must be extremely ignorant to believe that these cohorts are the answer to our problems. They ARE the cause!
All of the major issues plaguing our industry right now are interrelated. We have a shortage of drivers because the profession is no longer sought after or desirable. Carriers cannot make it desirable because our foundations and frameworks allow for things like Driver Inc., preying on immigrants and insurance fraud. Cleaning these issues up will create natural barriers to entry and allow the safe, compliant carriers to operate as service providers, not commodities.