Amid rising costs and stagnant pay, Ontario owner-ops shut down

OSHAWA, Ont. (Feb. 21, 2000) — A group of nearly 1000 owner-operators working primarily for carriers that haul auto parts promised to quietly shut down their trucks at midnight today to protest low pay rates and high fuel prices.

“My keys are on the table, and that’s where they’re going to stay until something’s done about the price of fuel,” said Paul Bourgeois, chairman of the National Truck Drivers Association (NTDA).

The newly formed owner-operator group organized a meeting of more than 1000 disgruntled owner-operators at an Oshawa, Ont.-area hotel yesterday afternoon. They gathered to discuss strategies for battling the increasing costs of doing business amid rates that haven’t changed in over a decade.

Most of the owner-operators who said they would withdraw their services work for carriers that service the General Motors plant here. They urged supporters from other carriers to do the sameÑnamely, to park their trucks and stay home.

“It took fuel prices to make us stand up and take notice of the situation we’re in,” Bourgeois said. “Now’s the time to address the real issue, and that’s the fact that we are no longer prepared to work for a dollar a mile. We’ve been told all along, every time a price went up, to eat it. Well, now I’m telling General Motors, ‘It’s your turn to eat it.'”

Many attendees talked openly of turning their trucks back over to the banks because they say rising operating costs and current pay rates have made it impossible to earn a living and maintain their trucks.

“It’s come down to the truck or the family,” said Dennis Kingsley, one of the co-founders of the association and an owner-operator with Verspeeten Cartage. “And I’m not about to ask my family to give up a meal or go without any of the necessities of life. I’ve just about had it.”

Several owner operators suggested that they were still afloat only because there was another income-earner in the family who could pick up the slack in household expenses.

Mike, an owner operator with Oshawa-based Mackie Transport said he had recently been handed a 3% increase to cover the increased cost of fuel. Calling the modest increase a joke, he said, “My costs have risen 20% since the fall. What the (heck) is 3% going to do for me?”

Another owner-operator rose and said, “For the past six years, the United Nations has called Canada the best place in the world to live. Tell me, then, why is it that I have to work 80 to 90 hours a week and I still can’t make ends meet?”

Truckers received support from several local politicians, who leveled their criticism at the oil companies.

“This industry (oil companies) does not respond to competitive forces,” said Dan McTeague, Liberal MP for Pickering-Ajax-Uxbridge. “Why should it? It is not illegal in Canada to fix prices. That’s going to come as a bit of a shock to you, but the only way it becomes illegal is if you unduly lessen competition.”

McTeague noted that cutting the provincial fuel tax is not a suitable solution because the legislation required would take too long to enact. “Chances are,” he said. “The consumer would never see the difference anyway.”

Organizers said the protest must not interfere with the general public, meaning they had no intention of moving the work stoppage to the sides of the highways or border crossings.

Ivan Grose, the federal MP from Durham, urged the group to keep its protests on the side of the law. “You use that power legally — and you can — and I will convince the members of my caucus to support you,” he said. “But remember, keep it legal.”

For further information about The National Truck Drivers Association, call any of the following individuals: Heather Whyte, communications coordinator: 905/259-1341; Paul Bourgeois, NTDA chairman: 905/436-9086; Dennis Kingsley, NTDA co-founder: 905/655-5663; Brian Snell, NTDA co-founder: 905/576-8286.