Submission

Ontario Milk Transport Association
301 - 660 Speedvale Ave. West
Guelph Ontario N1K 1E5

Edward English, President
Douglas Endicott, Vice-President
John Johnston, General Manager

The Ontario Milk Transport Association (OMTA) represents the 60 companies that pick up raw milk at farms in Ontario and deliver it to processing plants located in Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec.

There are approximately 700 people who work for the OMTA member companies picking up milk. These employees drive tanker trucks to farms, grade milk by smell, and if the milk grades as acceptable pump the milk onto the tanker, drive to the next farm and repeat the process until the tanker is full and then deliver the milk to a processing plant.

Because some of the companies deliver into Manitoba and Quebec and because raw milk pick up and delivery is only part of the work that some companies perform with the rest of their work being interprovincial or international haulage, at least 7 of the 60 member companies fall under the Canada Labour Code (the Code).

The OMTA has two main concerns with the Code - the lack of harmonization with provincial regulations resulting in different minimum employment standards for people who do the same work and the complexity of administration required to comply with rules on pay.

The provisions of the Code are different from the Ontario Employment Standards Act (ESA) so we have two people doing the same work in the same geographic area of Ontario under two different sets of rules. This does not provide a level playing field for employers or employees as stated in paragraph two of the background in the consultation paper.

Under the Code truck drivers are able to work 60 hours per week or more, under the ESA they can only work 48 hours per week unless the Ontario Minister of Labour grants them permission to work longer hours. The Minister's permission has to be renewed periodically. This gives some member companies an advantage over the rest in the hours their employees can work. This provides a financial advantage as well since these companies can allow their employees to work longer hours and earn more money with the effect that the number of employees is reduced and group benefits costs as well as the "head taxes", such as EI and CPP are reduced. Two employees earning $25,000 each cost an employer more than one employee earning $50,000 and the higher earner is more satisfied with the work because they earn enough to live comfortably while the other two do not.

Under the Code a long distance truck driver is not entitled to overtime pay until after 60 hours of work in a week while a "local" driver is entitled to overtime after 9 hours in a day or 60 hours in a week. A local driver works within a municipality or "Local Standard". Local Standard is a term that is open to interpretation and varies from location to location so employees and employers both do not know when the 9 hours a day provision is in effect. One member operates in an urban area with many other federally regulated trucking operations that have varied business - most of the local work these companies do (out in the morning and back at night) covers an area of about 150 kilometres in radius. One expects local standard to be a 300 km per day run and the drivers performing this work would be entitled to overtime after 9 hours in a day. Another member operates in a rural area with no other truck company under the Code so a local driver for him would be 17 km from base. His milk transport employees are not entitled to overtime after 9 hours in a day and have to reach 60 hours in the week before they get overtime.

Is driving a truck not driving a truck whether the driver is within a line that defines a municipality or a province or a country? Why different minimum employment rules for performing the same basic work?

Why is a driver who "moves up" to be a manager not covered by the Code? A manager is just as vulnerable, or even more so, than a driver, yet this person is not afforded the same employment protection.

If all citizens are equal under the Law then why does the Code create inequalities between provinces and groups of people who are employed doing similar work? In the case of trucking, an owner operator is not covered by the Code and probably cannot be covered (how do you require someone to take vacation when they own their own business?). Many OMTA members are owners who also drive.

For the trucking industry, the Code needs simplification and harmonization with Transport Canada hours of work and Provincial employment standards. If this is not accomplished then certain carriers will have a definite economic advantage over others doing the same work.

The other concern is the complexity of rules on pay. For example public holiday pay is based on the work performed prior to the public holiday. This means that public holiday pay for each employee has to be calculated individually - a time consuming task when most of the companies are too small to have a dedicated payroll person. These rules should be simpler to administer for all operations that work shifts and non-standard hours.

Thank you for considering our concerns during this review. If you require additional information please contact OMTA and we will endeavour to provide the information.