Protestors now up in the dumps, progress cited

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Organizers of last Thursday’s big rally that saw hundreds of dump trucks pull their rigs off job sites, form a convoy and drive around Toronto are far happier today than they were this time last week.

Their public display of dissatisfaction worked, they claim — which is probably not something the average motorist wants other disgruntled truckers to hear.

Several parties, including Ontario’s Minister of Transportation, have agreed to meet with them and discuss their problems.

Still, as of Monday morning, the trucks were sitting roadside at the corner of Dixie and Derry.

Randy Bharat, a spokesman for the year-old Ontario Dump Truck Association (ODTA), told todaystrucking.com that their public display of dissatisfaction has lured everybody to the bargaining table and the dump drivers’ concerns are being dealt with.

“Everything’s on a positive note,” Bharat, who owns 10 trucks, said in an interview. “Check back later this week and there’ll probably be more developments.”

The biggest issue raised by the dump truck drivers — and organizers say as many as 400 showed up at the rally — was the hourly rate paid to trucks as negotiated between them and the Associated Earthmovers of Ontario.

Down in the Dumps: Disgruntled Toronto dump
truckers just looking for a little respect.

Currently, these truckers get the equivalent of about $75 an hour and Bharat says that rate was agreed upon five years ago, when fuel prices were far lower than they are now.

Bharat said he’s looking for somewhere in the $90-to-$95-per-hour range.

Compounding the problem is that their trips are estimated according to how many loads they’re liable to get in a day so, like with OTR drivers paid by the kilometer, dump drivers are given incentive to drive faster.

Also, he said that dump truck owners are frustrated because under the current legislation, the individual drivers are responsible for the weight of their loads, although the contractors pay them by weight and they can’t measure how much their trucks weigh full.

So if they get pulled over by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and the inspector uses portable scales and learns that the truck’s overloaded, the driver gets the fine.

Bharat said on Monday he’s hopeful the MTO will address that issue. There’s also, he said, the matter of respect. Dump truckers don’t get any.

Bharat said the rally received widespread public support as well as positive media coverage so he hopes it will spawn more interest in the OTDA so it can grow and expand its mandate to include education programs, industry-wide lobbying efforts and also provide financial and business advice to new Canadians who want to come here and get involved in the dump truck business.

— Watch todaystrucking.com for updates


Have your say


This is a moderated forum. Comments will no longer be published unless they are accompanied by a first and last name and a verifiable email address. (Today's Trucking will not publish or share the email address.) Profane language and content deemed to be libelous, racist, or threatening in nature will not be published under any circumstances.

*