Locals join rally at Queen's Park
Would-be truck drivers protest lack of action over lengthy DriveTest strike
Posted By NATHAN TAYLOR, THE PACKET AND TIMES
Posted 3 months ago
Talk about a lingering issue.
It's one that many feel is being ignored by Ontario politicians, but the strike by DriveTest employees dominated a good chunk of question period yesterday.
Maybe it had something to do with the frustrated driving instructors and their students who were circling Queen's Park in their tractor-trailers.
Dozens of them descended on downtown Toronto for a demonstration organized by the Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario (TTSAO). They were calling on the government to intervene in a strike that has lasted 11 weeks, forcing truck training schools to lay off employees and preventing otherwise qualified students to go without their drive tests.
Orillia's Derek Higgins is among the latter group. He joined the rally yesterday.
Higgins is one of 60 students from Crossroads Truck Training Academy in Barrie who are currently "on hold."
He has finished all his written tests and now only needs his drive test before he can get a job as a driver.
"I can't afford to be out of work. I've got a little girl at home and I've got to do what I've got to do to support her," he said of his seven-year-old daughter.
Higgins, 33, left the construction business for "a lifestyle change" and job security.
"I'm looking for (an industry) that cannot run out of work," he said.
Still waiting for a drive test a few weeks after finishing his training isn't what Higgins had in mind.
Of course, he also never expected he'd be rallying for a cause at Queen's Park with his driving instructor, Luc Bouffard.
Bouffard is the only one of five instructors at Crossroads who still has a job.
"It's affecting not only our students' and graduates' lives, but us as instructors," he said.
Uncertainty about how long the strike will continue leaves the other instructors with some tough decisions to make.
"If they can't afford it, they might have to find another job," he said.
Those affected by the strike have been upset with what many feel is a lack of understanding of the issues and an unsatisfactory response from the government.
Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop sympathized.
"There's a responsibility for the Province of Ontario and (DriveTest) to put an end to this. It's gone on too long," he said before addressing the demonstrators outside Queen's Park.
Frank Klees, transportation critic, was among the opposition MPPs who raised the issue during question period.
Klees also asked the government to end the strike, but Labour Minister Peter Fonseca responded by saying the government respected and had faith in the collective-bargaining process.
The province saying it won't intervene "is not an answer we're willing to take," said Gus Rahim, president of the TTSAO.
If the government isn't willing to step in, Rahim offered a temporary solution, suggesting the government allow companies to do their own testing.
DriveTest and the United Steelworkers (USW) were back at the bargaining table on the weekend.
"On Sunday, DriveTest put forward a final offer to address all outstanding issues. The employees will vote on this offer later this week," said Paul Dalglish, managing director of DriveTest Ontario for Serco DES.
"Although the USW is recommending that employees reject our offer, we are pleased that the employees will get to vote on whether or not they come back to work as DriveTest employees, or continue as USW picketers. We hope that all employees come out to vote regardless of what their views are."
"Employees who don't vote are letting others decide their fate for them," he DriveTest has made significant concessions in order to end this strike and end the harm it is causing the public. Most notable is our acceptance this weekend of the union's proposal to resolve the seniority issues."
Job security and pay raises are among the DriveTest employees' reasons for striking.
ntaylor@orilliapacket.com
