Dump Truck protest will slow Toronto-area highways
As this morning’s rush hour winds down, about 150 dump trucks will hit Toronto-area highways for a rolling protest, carrying complaints of low wages and high pressure on drivers to operate unsafely.
The Ontario Dump Truck Association, a group that claims more than 600 drivers as members, is behind the demonstration, which comes less than three weeks after a couple were killed by a flying tailgate from a dump truck travelling too fast for its size.
“After 2003, we’ve had no raise,” Manjit Singh, an owner-operator and spokesman for the group, said yesterday. “They’re pushing for overloading and they’re pushing for overspeeding.”
Mr. Singh, who has been driving for three years, was referring to companies that hire dump trucks to haul material from excavation sites. Many expect drivers to exceed the trucks’ weight limits, and some demand unreasonably short turnaround times for trucks hauling repeated loads from a job site.
If several independent drivers are working one site, all are expected to match the fastest one, effectively forcing them to race, Mr. Singh said. Drivers who refuse to meet these demands are often told, “Go home, we don’t need you,” he said.
More than 400 trucks massed at a Mississauga mosque yesterday so drivers could air their grievances, which shut down several downtown condo construction sites.
With ever-higher fuel and insurance costs to pay since their last increase, drivers say they are more pressed than ever to earn an income. Their hourly rate of $75 has not changed since 2003, they said.
On April 19, Don and Elsie Lourie of Scarborough, both 75, died after their SUV, northbound on Highway 400, was struck by a tailgate that flew off a southbound dump truck. Two truck drivers travelling together were charged in connection with the incident.
Today’s rolling blockade will begin at Dixie and Derry Roads in Mississauga, follow Highway 410 south to Highway 401, then go east to Highway 427. There, the truckers will head south to the Gardiner Expressway, travel east to the Don Valley Parkway and turn north. They will then re-enter the 401, head west to the 410, then north to Dixie and Derry.