Thursday, December 7, 2006

Canada's trucking industry received another hard slap in the face today when the Supreme Court of Canada refused to allow a group of truckers permission to appeal a B.C. court decision which, in effect, found that truckers are NOT entitled to eat as well as civil servants when they are out on the road working. The slap was even harder because the Court (as is its practice) gave no reasons for its decision.

Why would Canada's top court slam the door on Canada's $51 billion a year trucking industry? It seems odd that long haul truck drivers will continue to eat like slaves, while civil servants eat like kings. This is yet another major set back to an industry which is already on the brink of a crisis because few people want to be treated like a slave and drive truck. The industry is already thousands of drivers short and with this decision, the shortage will continue to grow.

The trial judge said that comparing civil servants and truckers, is like comparing apples and monkeys. Isn't a worker, a worker? No, the courts said, if the government choses to pay its workers more for their meals, that's OK. Here's how they do it. Civil servants get over $75.00 per day tax-free for their meals(no receipts required) whereas the poor trucker/slave gets, at most, $10.00 or $11.00 a day (after taxes) for her or his meals. The truckers claimed that was not fair. That it's discrimination under our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Thousands of truckers have been pursuing this issue in the Courts for the past four and a half years. Who are these people? Allow me to introduce them to you.

- they are older than people in other occupations;

- they have many health problems;

- they have less education than people in other occupations;

- they rarely receive raises; and

- they work long hours for low pay and are away from home 75% to 90% of the time.

- they work in a $51 billion a year industry that is growing rapidly;

- cross-border trucking is growing at a faster pace than the growth in the Canadian economy;

- 30 to 45 thousand people per year need to be attracted into trucking to keep up with the demand;

- recruitment into the industry is falling further and further behind; and

- the low pay and long hours keep the occupation low on the radar of young people, driving up the average age of truckers.

Summerland B.C. lawyer, Tom Johnston, acted for the truckers (from every Province and Territory in Canada). The total in the affected group is roughly 500,000 people. When he started work on the case, almost five years ago, Johnston was shocked at how truckers are treated - long hours, awful conditions, and lousy pay. However, he soon learned that those conditions were not near as bad as how their own government taxes them on earnings they spend on meals!!!

Let's face it, all of us hate paying taxes. However, when you have to pay taxes on earnings used to buy meals to keep you alive, those taxes are nothing short of horrific! How bad is it? It's worse than you think. The average trucker pays an additional $10,000.00 or more per year in taxes! This discourages people in the industry from staying in and discourages people from outside the industry from wanting to get in. Is it any wonder the industry is teetering on the brink of diaster? The government and the enitire Canadian economy will soon be in a crisis too. Remember, "if you got it, a trucker brought it".

Johnston says his argument was straightforward, one group (employees of the government) have been given a benefit (the meal allowance) while another group (truckers who travel for a living) are not given the same benefit. In fact, civil servants get over $60.00 PER DAY more. Johnston argued that this differential treatment amounts to discrimination.

Yes, that's right, our government, gives court-approved extra tax free perks/meal allowances to civil servants ONLY. No one else can have them -those benefits are not available to other working Canadians. The B.C. courts' reasoning is that Canada, as an employer, can give its' employees (civil servants), a meal allowance, but no other Canadian worker can get that benefit - EVEN IF THEY HAVE EARNED IT THEMSELVES. What is really strange about that reasoning is that we're not talking about any old employer here - we're talking about the government - the ONLY EMPLOYER in the country who has the privilege of tinkering with the law to make life better for its' employees!

The truckers' lawyer, Tom Johnston, says his clients are disappointed and frustrated, but they strongly believe that "their time will come". Why? They believe that If this government does not rectify this situation, so that ALL Canadian workers are treated fairly and equally, that a recession is a certainty. The trucking industry is the engine of our economy. Without trucks delivering goods we're all out of business. The only question is, when will the government act? Will it be before or after the country is in a recession? Stay tuned.