Truckers take on northern mills (12/04)

By IAN ROSS

A truckers protest over freight rates was threatening to bring northeastern Ontario's forest products industry to a standstill as drivers parked their rigs and blockaded sawmill entrances in the Timmins-Cochrane area in November.

Organized by The Truckers' Voice, an advocacy group for owner-operators, demonstrations by log haulers in mid-November pulled more than 200 trucks off the road to target mills owned by Tembec, Domtar and Grant Forest Products.

The blockade forced Tembec to obtain a court injunction to ensure free access to its mills.

"The only reason we're in this position is because we've allowed this to happen and now we have to take control back," says Peter Turner, a consultant with The Truckers' Voice, who spent 10 months organizing the protest-turned-blockage, which began Nov. 9.

"The carriers are their own worse enemies."

Drivers want better freight rates, compensation for overloading trucks and better-structured pay schedules.

Turner says Timmins-area drivers are making inabout $75 per hour - not enough for truck payments and other expenses by independent owner-

operators. They are pushing for $115 to $120. "We're trying to act like businessmen and all our members are now acting like businessmen."

Turner, who has been refused meetings with contractors and mill operators to resolve these issues, says drivers are also being forced to work longer

hours behind the wheel and dig deeper into their own pockets. "Hours is where a lot of driver's quit..if they refuse, they don't get fired, but don't get

any work, until drivers get fed up and quit. How is that going to retain drivers?"

Turner promised the protest would continue with other contingency plans in place until the forestry companies come to the table. "My guys are

willing to sit the winter out."

Forestry companies were refusing to deal directly with the organizers of the protest, but were opting to negotiate individual settlements through their myriad of contractors.

Many forest products companies hire general contractors to manage, harvest and transport logs from Crown forest management units to their

sawmills. Tembec spokesman Richard Descarries says there were ongoing discussion between Tembec's contractors and truckers.

"We're not the ones who are dealing with the truckers. This is something between the contractors and truckers. We hire the contractor to do the harvesting and the delivery and it's up to the contractor to resolve the issue along with the trucker."

But truckers say their fight is not with the contractors, but with the companies who are unwilling to budge.

"These are the guys who are paying the bills and if no one wants to talk to us we're going to force the issue," says Turner. "And we did." Some

owner-operators are reluctant to talk publicly for fear of reprisals from contractors and forestry companies, but Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles

Bisson says forestry companies need to loosen the purse strings. Bisson, who has spoken with a number of drivers and general contractors, says

truckers are getting paid $75 to $85 per hour, roughly the same rate as 15 years ago.

"The break-even point is probably around $85 to $90 and a lot of these guys are going under, and people are getting the hell out of the industry

saying, "I'm not doing it anymore.""

"The industry needs to respond. All of these things take adjustments and there needs to be an adjustment on the rates."

He said rotating strikes at mills throughout the North could create instability this winter if yards start missing lumber and mills start shutting down.

Bisson says the issue has been building for years with many contractors and sub-contractors complaining that they are also being squeezed by the

forestry companies.

"A lot of contractors have gone bankrupt," says Bisson, "because they can't afford to survive in this environment.

"The real issue is they're not making money, and when they go to the companies (the companies) say, "If you don't like it, I'll get somebody else.""

"The companies could have dealt with this a long time ago; they chose not to for all kinds of reasons."

One Timmins-based forestry contractor, who did not want to be identified, saya the cost of insurance, fuel and wages have all increased dramatically in the last two years with no increase in rates to reflect that. A few banded together to hire a consultant to negotiate with Tembec, but nothing was resolved. The parties can't even agree on a base rate for fuel, the contractor says.

"It's such a convoluted process and such a complicated formula to start with. It needs to be streamlined and simplified."

Stephen Laskowski, vice-president of the Ontario Trucking Association, says it is high time shippers start negotiating fairly with their trucking companies or they may eventually find freight sitting in the yard. Laskowski says during the 1960s and 1970s, the trucking industry was seen as a desirable profession with drivers earning competitive incomes on par or better than factory workers.

"Since that time, I don't think the industry can say that we can afford to pay our drivers like factory workers."

Fierce competition and an overcapacity of trucking companies have conspired to "beat down rates" forcing the industry to operate on tight margins.

Laskowski says it is up to businesses to negotiate fairer rates with trucking companies.

"Those companies that treat trucking companies as true business partners can revisit their labour situation and make sure freight continues to move."

Work stoppages can be bad publicity for an industry desperately trying to recruit and retain drivers.

The industry is facing a number of challenges, including rising insurance, fuel costs, new hours of service regulations, increased costs and lengthy wait times at the border, as well as the strengthening value of the Canadian dollar, which is threatening the viability of many companies. Truckers are among the oldest workers in Canada. About 40 per cent of the workforce is over the age of 45, compared with 34 per cent of all other industries, with 13 per cent older than 55, compared with the national average of 11 per cent.

A study produced in June for the Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council estimates the industry needs 224,000 new drivers (about 37,000

annually) over a six-year period, between 2003 and 2008, to keep pace with the demand caused by economic growth combined with the rate of

industry attrition. In Ontario, that translates to 89,560 drivers during that period or nearly 15,000 during each of those years.

One short-term solution being discussed is filling the driver shortage gap through immigration.

The association wants Ottawa to recognize truck drivers as skilled labour shortage in Ontario under the new provincial-federal government immigration agreement being negotiated.

Provincial Economic Development Minister Joe Cordiano has acknowledged it would be helpful to allow more qualified truck drivers to immigrate, and promised to keep this in mind as the immigration agreement discussions with the federal government progress.