Canadian Truckers Fight For $9 Million Unpaid Wages, Urge Gov’t Action
Truckers across Canada are locked in a battle to secure their rightful wages, which total an estimated $9 million. Numerous employers have allegedly withheld these earnings, prompting truckers to rally and call for stronger government intervention against companies exploiting a controversial scheme known as Driver Inc.
Justice for Truck Drivers, a collective comprising 42 individuals, organized a protest outside Toronto’s federal labor program office on July 8. Their aim was to shed light on rampant wage theft in the trucking sector. Together, they claim more than $300,000 in overdue payments from various carriers.
“I did not get my first paycheck until three months after I started working,” said Manjinder Singh, one of the drivers who spoke at the rally. He eventually left his trucking position in 2021 with over $10,000 in unpaid wages.
These unpaid wages, part of the approximate $9 million in Ontario, Canada, remain undistributed among workers. The withholding of these funds emerged during the 2021-22 fiscal year, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Labour. This information was acquired through freedom of information requests by Downtown Legal Services and Parkdale Community Legal Services, both based in Toronto.
The majority of employers implicated in the unpaid wage scandal hail from the transportation and logistics sectors.
Advocates for worker rights emphasize that wage theft is escalating within the trucking and logistics industries, disproportionately impacting immigrant drivers. Navi Aujla, Executive Director of Labour Community Services of Peel in Brampton, Canada, has witnessed countless drivers seeking assistance in recovering owed wages from carriers.
“The majority of cases that come to us regarding wage theft or anything else, the driver has been misclassified by their employer,” Aujla said. “When there’s misclassification, employees aren’t getting their full rights, employers are taking part in practices that would never be acceptable when someone is an employee.”
Worker misclassification, where employees are wrongly labeled as independent contractors, is a practice known as Driver Inc. in Canada. This allows carriers to sidestep tax and benefits responsibilities while violating labor laws by withholding wages from drivers.
Major trucking industry groups, including the Canadian Trucking Alliance, Teamsters Canada, and Quebec Trucking Association, united in May to press the government to take action against companies using the Driver Inc. model. They argue for fairness, equal standards, and protection of vulnerable laborers.
“The key issue here is about fairness and assuring that all play by the same rules so that no one employer is able to have an unfair advantage over another,” said John McCann, the national freight and tank haul director for Teamsters Canada. “It’s about assuring that a vulnerable labor force is not taken advantage of simply because they just want an opportunity to work and support their families.”
On July 22, Labour Community Services of Peel and Justice for Truck Drivers hosted a town hall event in Brampton, addressing wage theft, unlawful deductions, harassment, and unsafe working conditions in the trucking field. Aujla underscored the systemic nature of the problem, with truck drivers comprising only 17% of federally regulated workers but accounting for 85% of unpaid wage claims.
The intricate Canadian immigration policy, particularly the Labor Market Impact Assessment process, contributes to the vulnerability of immigrant workers in the trucking industry.
“There’s so many loopholes and ways for employers to exploit workers through the immigration policy system. It creates a lot of opportunities for exploitation and wage theft when employees or drivers are so dependent on an employer to be able to access permanent resident status,” Aujla stressed.
Canada’s federal Labour Program, akin to the U.S. Department of Labor, exists to facilitate workers’ resolution of payment disputes with employers without resorting to legal action. Aujla called for stricter enforcement of wage payment orders and more severe penalties for non-compliant companies. Current procedures often result in lengthy delays and limited enforcement.
“The main thing that we’re really trying to push the government on is the lack of enforcement and consequences for employers who break the law,” he added. “We’re seeing that even where drivers are filing so many claims in the Labour Program… there’s a huge wait time for the claims to be processed.”
He further urged the government to prioritize addressing these challenges to ensure fair treatment and payment for all workers.
Information for this briefing was found via FreightWaves and the sources mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.