Group of truckers owed over $1 million in wages by employers

Ontario truckers are calling on the federal government to ensure better enforcement of rules around wage theft in the industry, which is proving to be a worsening problem.

In 2023, the federal government issued 542 wage payment orders against trucking companies, according to a CBC report, citing government data. By July of this year, there were already 491 orders.

"Employers are getting away with ignoring government orders to pay wages all of the time," said Navi Aujla, president of the Labour Community Services of Peel, in the CBC report.

The non-profit that has taken up the cases of more than 250 truckers over the last two years. Currently, it is working with 130 truckers who are collectively owed over $1 million by their employers.

According to the report, the trucking industry was responsible for 85% of all wage-related Canada Labour Code violations between 2017-18 and 2021-22. That was the case even though truckers account for less than 20 per cent of federally regulated workers, noted CBC.

Previously, Tomoya Obokata, UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, concluded that “the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery”. That came after he received reports of violations against these workers, including wage theft,

‘Non-compliance pays’

The government made changes to the Canada Labour Code this year "to stop employers misclassifying employees as independent contractors,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour said, according to the report.

The problem, however, is not with the rules; it’s with non-compliance to those rules, said Marco Beghetto, a spokesperson for the Ontario Trucking Association, in the report.

"Frankly, non-compliance pays," he said.

"We're not talking about new laws and new regulations. All we want is the enforcement of the laws that are already on the books of the standards under the Canada Labour Code."

Meanwhile, Steven MacKinnon, minister of labour, said the federal government is working to prevent wage theft and stop employers from misclassifying employees as independent contractors.

"We have worked closely with both workers and businesses to find an effective and fair solution to this problem," he said via email, according to CBC. "Any employer who knowingly misclassifies an employee to avoid their obligations is breaking the Canada Labour Code and will face consequences."

Under the Canada Labour Code, no employer shall make deductions from wages or other amounts due to an employee, except as permitted by or under this section.

The permitted deductions are:

1. those required by a federal or provincial Act or regulations made thereunder;
2. those authorized by a court order or a collective agreement or other document signed by a trade union on behalf of the employee;
3. amounts authorized in writing by the employee;
4. overpayments of wages by the employer; and
5. other amounts prescribed by regulation.

Previously, the Workers' Action Centre in Toronto claimed that a businessman in the city continues to face claims of wage theft and government orders to pay employees even though he still owes workers a total of about $290,000 unpaid wages.