Soumission

Federal Labor Issues for Long Haul Truck Drivers

Canadian Professional Drivers Association,
Box 126,
St. Jean, Manitoba,
R0G 2B0.

Contact:
President: Emile Dupuis
Vice President: Pam Wilkinson

Background:

The Canadian Professional Drivers Association is a non-profit association of both employee drivers and owner operators, and are located coast to coast. We are a registered association and consist of 8 executive board members in various provinces. Our mandate and constitution support the education and assistance of all drivers. With education being the more important part of our association to include the knowledge of their rights within the trucking industry and the steps necessary to be taken to eliminate and solve those problems through govern- ment agencies. We assist drivers through contact with employers and then to the proper agencies. In the long run, teaching drivers they can properly change problems within the industry is essential to the survival of the industry which so depends on its drivers.

Executive Summary:

There is a myth within the halls of all stake holders that the Labor laws within this country need to be changed. It is our belief that this is not so, as we have ample legislated labor laws on the books. This leaves the immediate problems within the trucking industry to enforcement or the lack of enforcement and the consequence for those who deem to be the victims in the work enviroment. Those who intend to inform the local labor boards of infractions in their companies must firstly quit their jobs and move to another company. Secondly their name becomes known from one company to the next as a "trouble maker" with no regard for their ability to do the job correctly. If by some chance they would have made the choice to stay with the company in violation (of labor laws) their job is indeed on the line. Being a long haul driver, the company can simply starve a driver into quiting by giving him/her no "avail able miles". A driver can basically only hold out with no income coming in for so long before he would be forced to quit. In all essence a driver who complains constructively to either management or the labor board is held captive to his job, perpetuating the long list of labor violations within the company.

When deregulation occurred, it opened the doors to anyone to start a trucking company, and treat any drivers they could get with disregard, complacency, disrespect, and harass in the workplace. Be it large or small company, there are instances of exactly that going on to this day.Putting the driver in an illegal position has never been given much thought by the carrier, as long as the freight is delivered when it was promised by a salesman or dispatch, who does not drive, nor does he fathom the amount of time a driver will have to drive to make that delivery on time. There is always the point that a driver can call in and tell dispatch there is not enough time legally to make that delivery,and in turn, that trip could be given to another driver who will do it "for the money". The first driver now sits and waits for another load, perhaps days at a time. Its called retaliation.

For any new driver within the industry, who is very unaware of their rights etc, its all very simple to imply they will be fired if they do not comply with what dispatch tells them to do, legal or otherwise..They are intimidated as they want to keep their job and do a good job, thusly compromising their own safety and taking a mediocre job with minimum pay. Immigrant drivers will fall into this same situation as well…feeling they don't dare complain about not receiving their stat holiday pay for instance, or complaining about not being paid for short miles on a trip, with the threat of retaliation of being deported. The carriers have rode rough shod over the drivers for far too many years, and it has to stop. The situation at this point, and those following can all be proven as instances that have and are occurring.

The stance of the trucking company is one of arrogance and threats to its drivers knowing full well, the drivers need for income. The possibility of moving to another carrier brings into position that the same labor violations occur over and over again and it simply repeats the problem. The drivers at this point seem to be captive to both the employer and the industry. The managements of trucking companies in this country have made a very good living, while the drivers have struggled to live and fight for monies shorted them on trips, stat holiday, bonus' etc. It is an out- rage that the Labor Laws, and the Labor Boards have been so accommodating to the carriers in their favor. When in fact, the labor laws in this country were written to protect the employee from unscrupulous employers…what has changed in all this time?

The repeated report that there is a shortage of drivers within the trucking industry is simply incorrect. There is a shortage of drivers who are willing to accomodate the carrier and his every whim legal or otherwise for the dollar. There are lots of million- mile-accident-free drivers out in the work force but few are willing to drive any more for the monies being offered and non-compliance of labor laws by the carriers. This driver shortage myth is one also being perpetuated by the carriers and we feel it is just to fill the trucks with foreign drivers, and they are being subsidized by the govt paying part of those wages to the new immigrants. We, as an association under- stand full well that the economics of the trucking industry have created this situ- ation. At this point, we feel that the major stake holders are "cutting their nose off to save their face"….the savings in having accident free drivers and paying them the amount which reflects their experience and ability would far supercede the costs of insurance premiums, much less the carriers self-insured plan for the first $15,000 of any accident, therefore indicating an incorrect statistics about their operation. The insurance companies have only false statistics to work from as far as the carriers safety record.

With reference once again to the "driver shortage", we believe that the problem lies with each and every individual carrier. To explain; when your employee driver turnover is 100% or more every six months to a year, then obviously the situation has been created by the carrier themselves. With the blatant disregard for the driver and his paycheque, it is no wonder that this is occurring and now to a point, where perhaps those companies will disappear.

Attachment of exhibits/ source will be found at the end of the recommendations.

Recommendations:

Our recommendations are as follows:

1. The first and foremost complaint from drivers, is that they do not get paid for what they do. Canada Labor Code Part 111, indicates work is to be compensated for from the time you get to the job"until your shift is over. Due to the fact that they are paid by the mile (the majority) all their work time (waiting to load/unload, border crossings, dropping trailers, and all miles driven including all within a city, must be paid. Mileage programs used by the carriers including Household Carrier Guide (which is proven to be out by more than 10%) PC Miler and any other mileage calculator does not include miles driven within city limits. Mileage readings should be taken off either the odometer or off the hub.In simple language,an average month of 10,000 miles, the driver has driven 1,000 miles for free with no compensation for that piece of the job. We are certain Labor Canada does not condone this behaviour but on the other hand, where does the driver go for relief of this problem when the majority of carriers all do exactly the same thing. It leads one to believe they have indeed conspired to operate their businesses on the backs of the drivers, from whom they expect so much free labor.

   For the parts of the trucking job, that include waiting for paperwork, border crossing & running to brokers, waiting to load/unload, this should be paid to the driver on an hourly basis, and rate of which can be easily calculated by using their daily rate per mile divided by their daily hours of driving. If for instance a driver is making 37cents per mile for 10 hours, and he averages 60 miles per hour on the highway, which totals to $222.00 per day which in turn reverts to $22.20 per hour which is what he should be paid for any hourly duties. He remains on the job until he goes to attend to personal things, i.e. eating, bathing, sleeping

2. All truck drivers must be categorized as skilled professional labor. The skill of the job, and requirements to maintain that position are far beyond those of many occupations you have classed as "skilled labor". In order to obtain a driving record of a million miles or more accident free does not happen by chance but by skill…many of you have failed to recognize.
3. All carriers must comply with all Stat holiday pay labor laws, with de- terents of large fines and suspensions of authorites or running rights within the country. Complaints against carriers not paying these stat holidays (either incorrectly or not at all,) should be allowed without a driver having to supply his name and be allowed protection from retaliation from the carrier. It seems at this time, there is no deterent and therefore the carriers continue to either not pay stat holiday pay or to calculate it incorrectly with the approval of Labor Canada. Paying a flat rate for drivers is incorrect, and if this creates a problem for the carrier to calculate this amount, that is their problem, not an open door to cheat the driver out of monies owed for that holiday. It is time for carriers to be brought to task for stat holiday pay to drivers. The expectations of carriers from their drivers is ex- traordinary when involving doing many work related tasks without proper compen- sation, much less holiday pay. It is recommended that they simply hire more staff to deal with this inadequacy.Perhaps at this period of time, carriers are now beginning to realize that without drivers they have no company. The drivers are the work force, and without proper treatment, this problem is going to perpetuate itself many times over, immigrant drivers or not. We also have come to the realization that carriers will not pay for good drivers ability, so they have by-passed the resources they have and consequently are importing foreign drivers, so they can pay them less money, and still get the job done. This is a general smack in the face of the drivers who have done an excellent job for their respective employers.

   Due to the fact, we have been told that Labor Canada will not retrieve Stat holiday unpaid, prior to 1 year, which we know is not law, but rather just a policy,this is very wrong. We want this corrected immediately; if a company has not paid or not calculated this amount correctly, to its drivers, this must be corrected and paid to ALL DRIVERS retro back 5 years. Or however long that drivers employ has been. No drivers should have to take a carrier to court and sue for monies owed due to labor laws already legislated. One more time, this is simply lack of enforcement by Labor Canada. Once a carrier has been audited for a labor complaint and substantiated, it must be retro payback to all drivers employed there or who have left the employ immediately. No other drivers from the same company should ever have to lodge the exact same complaint for the same labor violation. This is a complete waste of time for the investigating officers of Labor Canada, where they could be auditing another carrier.

4. Within the last decade, a new wrinkle has appeared to plague the driver and its called "Bonus Pay/Plan" and creates just another avenue to reduce the drivers salary. Created by the carriers, which indicates a per mile bonus for all sorts of minor situations including turning in paperwork, so they can get their pay. These "Bonus' must be outlawed. The Canada Labor Code Part 111 or otherwise, does not allow a pay cheque to be held in lieu of turning in paperwork for the trip already run and delivered. Accordingly, Canada Labor Code indicates no deductions other than source deductions, are to be allowed to be taken off any drivers pay cheque. Since these bonus' are a paid-per mile they are earned income, and not subject to any deductions other than source.
5. Unjust dismissals and any labor complaint must be handled in the province where the driver lives, not where the carriers home terminal is located.. This has created the problem for drivers who are employed by carriers who carry federal licences, and hire their drivers from all parts of the country. Due to the fact, that the driver has lodged the complaint, the complaint should be adjudicated in the province where he/she lives.
6. We as an Association feel, there is a great deal of lack of communication between the government agencies of Labor Canada (Human Resources) Canada Customs & Revenue (aka Revenue Canada) and Department of Transport. All three of these departments have involved labor issues, which they will not discuss amongst themselves. i.e. CCRA says Safeway drivers are not truck drivers, (even though they do indeed drive trucks and deliver grocery products)and therefore cannot use the tax deduction for meals away from home. On the other hand,as drivers, they must run a log book, as told by the Dept. of Transport. If indeed, CCRA does not consider them truck drivers then obviously there is no need for them to log their work day. Log books as you may know indicate how many hours a driver has worked for each day; where he has stopped, has he booked "off duty" or " on duty not driving" (which would indicate he was still on the job and not getting paid for not driving. This situation now overlaps onto labor laws regarding getting paid for the job you do. If you the driver, write "on duty not driving" in his log book, and he is not getting paid for the wait time, he has lost part of his day for that time, and if the wheels don't move he does not get paid.Therefore, he will not put this in his log book because he does not receive any or little compensation for anything but driving, he will do nothing that will take away from the limited hours that he can work and earn an income .

   In isolating these three government agencies, each unto themselves, you have complicated the labor issues, each of you deciding what will work for you with little or no regard for the ramifications to the drivers which will have to work within these parameters. It is imperative at this time, that consultations be made with representatives from each of these agencies and drivers, to complete a full investigation of the laws and how the overlaps contradict one another.

7. We want confirmation from Labor Canada, and its agencies, that the labor laws as written and legislated, supercede any regulations written by a carrier in his drivers manual/ handbook. Creating a trucking business by simply changing labor laws and repeating these to drivers, has become the normal procedure, indicating little or no knowledge of labor laws governing business or simply fall under the heading of unfair labor practices.
8. Overtime, a subject that many long haul drivers are unaware of and of course the carrier does not pay for. Provincial truckers are well aware, but then again they also do not receive over time pay after 60 hours. There is little or no protection for loss of the job, if a complaint is forth coming from a driver. Carriers have threatened to just hire more drivers rather than pay overtime to the employees they already have. Once again, we have no recommendations in this situation other than simply go to the carrier and do an audit. However, this would certainly correct the situation immediately but would there be retaliation. To avoid any idea of this, it is time Labor Canada did a sweep of carriers to audit for these labor infractions. And see that proper compensation is paid to all drivers who are not receiving it. Of what use, is so many legislated rules if there is little or no compliance and little or no enforcement, with little or no deterent for repeat offences.
9. Falsfying a drivers record; an occurrence which is becoming more popular as time goes on. To explain, if a driver has had an accident which is not his fault, which agrees with the police report, the carrier has no right to write in his drivers record that the accident was avoidable and his driver is at fault.The situation then continues to become a thorn in the side of the driver if he ever leaves the current employer. Prospective employers do not want drivers who have had a accident, which has been recorded as the drivers fault. Consequently if the driver leaves, he will find it difficult to acquire another driving position. The same thing applies when a driver complains to manage- ment regarding the payment of stat holiday pay. Should the carrier decide this driver is trouble, and they fire him, they will continue to tell other carriers not to hire this person. Why else would a company not hire a driver with four million miles accident free….situation remains. The first driver cannot quit, as he cannot get employment insurance benefits, so he must stay where he is, thus the carrier has control once again. This tactic is used extensively by many large companies. The drivers record should be available to that driver, and if there is any false information on it, which he can dispute, this should be put in the hands of Labor Canada, and the complaint should be listed under unfair labor practices.