Driver Protests Against Unpaid Wages Continue in Brampton

[Jim L]

Driver protests against unpaid wages continue in Brampton

Truck drivers are continuing to confront employers over unpaid wages, taking to the streets in Brampton, Ont. with their supporters. Driver Amrish Dutta said an Ontario-based company withheld his wages while the pandemic was raging. The father of two, who lives in Brampton, said the issue was...

insidetransport.com

Sounds like most of their complaints are not wages; as in employer to employee wages but Driver Inc. payments not being processed. If it were truly wages the employee would have recourse with the labour board who would get this rectified in almost an instance.

This is one of the issues with Driver Inc. Those people who think that Driver Inc is the way to go have to deal with the possibility of not being paid in a timely manner or not at all. Their only legal recourse would be to take the issue to small claims court - good luck convincing any judge over there to understand the payment process when being paid by mile and drops and out of route miles etc.. They better hope they have an excellent contract between the carrier and the Driver Inc. and my guess is that there is none or a very shabby one at that. If there were a good contract they probably wouldn't be in that position in the first place.

This is why we are seeing the protests; that is the only other way to resolve this - hassle the person who isn't paying. I love the quote:

Aujla said protesters subsequently held a meeting with the employer, who agreed to pay the drivers a percentage of what was owed.

What employee would take a percentage when the Labour board protects all wages. This comment alone tells me its Driver Inc. companies.

If you try and skirt the process on one side you deal with the issues on the other side. I say good for them - both the 'employer' and the Driver Inc. They got what was coming to them.

 

[Jim L]

Companies claim extortion as drivers protest unpaid wages

Officials of a trucking company that saw former drivers protest unpaid wages outside its premises in the Peel Region in the Greater Toronto Area recently, say they are being targeted and threatened in a bid to squeeze cash from them. Tony Sandhu, president and Pawel Sandhu, CEO of Cargo County...

insidetransport.com

Just as I said earlier - independent contractors AKA Drivers Inc. Nobody would complain if everything was paid but since it isn't now they want to be re-classified as employees so they can call on the labour board to follow up on the employer. Both the carrier and the driver want the best of both worlds but this model seldom works out. I'm glad to see that its problematic and being brought out into the forefront. Hopefully in the end the carrier will be given an order not to hire this way any longer and the Driver Inc. participants will have to eat the loss. Teach them all a lesson.

 

[NotForHire]

Close all the loopholes.

But the underlying problem is more obvious than you can imagine. It simply comes down to the style and ethics of the company.

This no holds barred style of business simply doesn't fly anymore. Companies require transparency and honesty. Fleet owners need drivers and no drivers will work if they know they wont get paid.

 

[Rob]

Close all the loopholes.

But the underlying problem is more obvious than you can imagine. It simply comes down to the style and ethics of the company.

This no holds barred style of business simply doesn't fly anymore. Companies require transparency and honesty. Fleet owners need drivers and no drivers will work if they know they wont get paid.

This is a bunch of yahoo's that signed up as driver inc and realized after the fact they where getting screwed without a kiss and now want the kiss. Looks good on all of them if you ask me. I hope this is a nail in the coffin of driver inc as it sure does make finding guys tough on legit carriers paying drivers as what they are employee's.

 

[tasuinam]

This is a bunch of yahoo's that signed up as driver inc and realized after the fact they where getting screwed without a kiss and now want the kiss. Looks good on all of them if you ask me. I hope this is a nail in the coffin of driver inc as it sure does make finding guys tough on legit carriers paying drivers as what they are employee's.

This is a driver issue as well - they need to refuse to work under Driver Inc. - we had a driver who refused to work for us because we said we will hire as an employee. They tried to convince us of the source deduction savings!... so really when a carrier wants to do the right thing it is the drivers not agreeing... both need to stop...

 

[loaders]

It certainly appears to be a case where both carriers and drivers are trying to scam the system. Uneducated drivers being sold a "bill of goods" about more money in their pocket and carriers trying to gain an unfair financial advantage over their competitors. As long as loopholes like this exist, there will be people who will exploit them.

 

[Michael Ludwig]

I read the article as definitely being Driver Inc., but I also took it as the drivers that were "forced" to sign up as Driver Inc. didn't really know what they were getting into (for the most part), and once they figured it out, and were not getting paid, they were pissed and started to protest.
Like @Jim L I also found the comment about the meeting and only taking a percentage of what they were owed to be odd. As a matter of fact, extremely odd. I think that was exceptionally poor negotiating on the protesters part.
From my point of view what they should have done was simply call WSIB and CRA and have them deal with it, or at least use that threat, and they would have gotten all the money.
Regardless, legit carriers can use the Driver Inc model as a selling point now by indicating that it is not offered at their place of business, so drivers should come to work for them now because everything is paid and the driver is well protected.

 

[tasuinam]

I read the article as definitely being Driver Inc., but I also took it as the drivers that were "forced" to sign up as Driver Inc. didn't really know what they were getting into (for the most part), and once they figured it out, and were not getting paid, they were pissed and started to protest.
Like @Jim L I also found the comment about the meeting and only taking a percentage of what they were owed to be odd. As a matter of fact, extremely odd. I think that was exceptionally poor negotiating on the protesters part.
From my point of view what they should have done was simply call WSIB and CRA and have them deal with it, or at least use that threat, and they would have gotten all the money.
Regardless, legit carriers can use the Driver Inc model as a selling point now by indicating that it is not offered at their place of business, so drivers should come to work for them now because everything is paid and the driver is well protected.

Also not using is is so much cleaner and transparent when you have to lay off someone for what ever issue.

 

[loaders]

Unfortunately, there will always be some drivers who, when being sold the Driver Inc scheme, will only hear the part about more money, ignoring the more odious and burdensome parts of the deal. Kind of like a dog being offered a biscuit in return for a trick…blah, blah, blah, biscuit, blah, blah blah, blah. It is really unethical to take advantage of those who are not as well educated or experienced. As Michael stated, hopefully these types of situations will discourage both carriers and new drivers from considering this scheme.