CTA, Teamsters ask to maintain 13-hour daily driving cap

OTTAWA (Oct. 16, 2001) — The Canadian Trucking Alliance and Teamsters Canada yesterday said federal and provincial transport regulators should maintain the cap on the number of hours a truck driver can drive within a single shift at 13.

In a joint statement, the groups acknowledged that a 13-hour driving cap would be more palatable politically, but would not veer away from the intent of the changes: to allow drivers to work more healthful work-rest schedules.

“With pre-trip inspections and other required duties, it would be virtually impossible for a driver to operate his rig for 14 consecutive hours,” CTA chief executive David Bradley said. “But there is no doubt that this issue has raised concerns among the public; our proposal would serve to set the record straight.”

Proposed changes waiting a review by the Commons Transport Committee would allow 14 hours of on-duty time, and would not distinguish between hours worked and hours driven. The committee is expected to hold public hearings on the issue this fall.

Current national standards allow 13 hours of driving time and a total of 15 hours of so-called “on-duty” time.

The CTA, Canada’s largest truck fleet association, and the Teamsters, one of the country’s largest labor unions, agreed that total on-duty time should be no more than 14 hours each day before taking at least eight consecutive hours off duty, provided also that a driver takes at least 20 hours off duty within a 48-hour period.

They urged governments at both the federal and provincial levels to enact “all other elements of the proposed revisions to the hours of service standard, as detailed in the November 1999 discussion paper prepared by Transport Canada on behalf of the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA), … at the earliest opportunity.”