TORONTO (July 23, 1999) — Members of the Canadian Co-operative of Independent Truck Owner-Operators, an association established as a result of the border blockades in the early 1990s, will become members of the United Steelworkers Union under a partnership agreement announced yesterday.

The union plans to offer assistance with contract negotiations, legal assistance, education, and supplier discounts to members of the co-operative, also called the Truckers’ Co-op, which serves primarily as a buying group for independent owner-operators in Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada.

The Truckers’ Co-op, based in Montreal and Ancaster, Ont., said it represents 3000 truckers, although its ranks are believed to be considerably less.

“The United Steelworkers’ Union is an international institution with offices in every province and every state,” said Lawrence McBrearty, the union’s national director.

“We have a good benefit plan, we have good relationships with industry suppliers, we have a strong lobby organization. That’s a level of service and communications contact that drivers have never had from an organization that claims to represent them.”

Currently, the union represents about 2000 truck drivers nationwide through its Steelworkers’ Transportation/Communications local, the result of a merger with the Transportation-Communications Union.

“Across Canada, we estimate there are about 60,000 independent truckers who could take advantage of this association with the Steelworkers,” said McBrearty.

The union plans to hold membership and recruitment meetings across Canada this fall to talk about how the organization would best serve independent drivers.

McBrearty anticipated that discussions would include the idea of co-ordinated working agreements with truck fleets, but said the union would not act as a collective bargaining agent. (“Who would we bargain with?” he asked. “Owner-operators are, by definition, not employees.”)

Ironically, the Truckers’ Co-op was formed in 1992 after the federal government pledged $2.7 million in part to seed a buyer’s co-operative for owner-operators. In 1990, drivers erected border blockades to protest pay rates, their often uncertain regulatory status as independent operators, and an apparent lack of concern about their viability.

However, Ottawa balked at awarding the money when a temporary coalition of owner-operator associations fell apart, largely due to a conflict over whether unions should be members.

In early 1993, with no reconciliation in sight, federal Transport Minister Jean Corbeil decided to split the money. He gave $1.8 million to the Truckers’ Co-op, which banded together the Com Car Owner-Operators association and other groups in Eastern Canada and the Prairies. The remainder was given to the Ottawa-based Canadian Owner-Operators Co-operative, whose backers included the B.C.-based Western Owner-Operators Association and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.