Trucking industry driving for change
Standardized training and recognition as a trade being championed
Trucking could be considered the lifeblood of the economy. Without semi-trailers delivering everything from livestock to fresh produce, the way of life we as we know would be vastly different.
But the trucking industry has issues, among them a shortage of Class 1 drivers. The industry also is working toward making the job classified as a trade.
This would vastly change the landscape of the trucking industry for its owners and drivers.
The fourth annual truck expo and job fair Saturday at Exhibition Park, staged by the Southern Alberta Trucking Exposition Association, aimed not only to give job seekers a look at potential work opportunities, but also to promote the need for regulation and change.
Bill Myatt, one of the organizers of the event, said having trucking recognized as a trade would aid access to lending institutions and banks for operators, among other benefits.
Standardizing training procedures across the country is also a goal, this issue which has come into prominence since the Humboldt tragedy earlier this year that killed 16 junior hockey players including Lethbridge’s Logan Boulet when the Broncos team bus was hit by an Albertabased semi-trailer driver who is facing numerous charges.
Currently, regulations vary among provinces, says Myatt. While Quebec and Ontario regulate training provincially, some provinces such as Alberta have privatized it, the result being different standards across the country.
Organizers are also hoping to have American and Canadian rules synchronized. Currently, Canadian drivers are allowed to work 14 hours a day which includes 13 hours behind the wheel while operating in this country. Drivers in Canada are required by law to take “at least of 10 hours off-duty or sleeperberth time within a day,” according to regulations. In the U.S., property-carrying drivers are limited to 11 hours driving after 10 consecutive hours offduty.
An initiative is being taken also to have drivers compensated for the long hours they often sit at docks, waiting to load or unload trucks. Some companies now pay their drivers an hourly wage for the time spent waiting, and they are attracting more drivers from other companies, says Myatt.
“You can sit from five to six to eight hours waiting to get loaded and your hours have disappeared.”
The Canadian trucking industry is estimated to be short about 100,000 drivers. Because trucking is not classified as a trade, the exact numbers aren’t known, says Myatt.
Lane Jacobson, association president, says estimates suggests that shortage will be over 200,000 by the year 2024.
“It’s such a shortage you can’t even get an accurate count,” he says, adding the American Trucking Alliance figures it has only one driver for every 12 trucks.
“If its hurting them, it’s hurting us.”
The U.S. Consulate General was at this year’s fair, helping job seekers apply for work visas. In the first three years of operation, fair organizers say about 200 people have found trucking jobs at the event.
Having the trucking certified as a trade is critical for the industry, say organizers.
“How do you attract them (drivers) to the industry if it’s not a trade?” asks veteran driver Jacobson.
“If you get a bad driver, look at the consequences. We want fully qualified drivers on the road,” added Jacobson, who says he applauds the Alberta government for looking at changes to training.
“We need a unified training system. If it’s a unified trade across Canada, we’ll get better-trained drivers.”
Both Myatt and Jacobson say the lack of standardized training for truckers isn’t the only problem — they both have concerns with drivers who only possess a regular Class 5 licence getting behind the wheel of a massive diesel-pusher motorhome with no experience operating such a large vehicle.
“You’ve got a guy leaving the office driving something 50 to 60 feet long,” a vehicle that could way 50,000 lbs, with no experience, says Jacobson.
“We’re second-class citizens,” adds Myatt, who says he helped raise his kids from the highway during his career on the highway. “We need our government to educate the public and let them know we’re decent folks, we’re family people” and regardless of the fact they work for competitive companies, drivers are all family on the road, he says.