In March, Saini says he twice drove a company rig to California, with a co-worker, spending more than 10 days on the road and covering over 16,000 kilometres. But the promised paycheque never came.
“I’m owed like $3,000 from them,” he said, noting the lack of a paycheque meant he was struggling to make payments for his car and rent. “I even had to borrow money from my friends.”
Trucking is big business in this country. The industry employs close to 350,000 people, according to Transport Canada, with new firms starting up on a regular basis. But as the industry grows, so do issues surrounding payments for drivers, who often find themselves fighting for what they’re owed.
“It is a huge problem,” says Navi Aujla, director of the Labour Community Services of Peel, a non-profit that has taken up the cases of more than 250 truckers over the last two years. “The majority of people that call us for help, it’s related to wage theft. They’ve already had to leave the job because they haven’t been getting paid.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A minute-long spiel from a Punjabi-speaking influencer, singing the praises of Navkin Transport, a new trucking business in Brampton, Ont., where Saini lives.
“It is a huge problem,” says Navi Aujla, director of the Labour Community Services of Peel, a non-profit that has taken up the cases of more than 250 truckers over the last two years.
Many of the drivers Aujla represents — including Saini — are recent immigrants who are attracted to long-haul driving because the in-demand industry is a reliable pathway to permanent-resident status.
Wage debts can be certified in Federal Court, which means a business’s assets can be seized, however, it’s ultimately up to the workers to collect what they’re owed.
In an emailed statement, Hardev Taggar said he started the company in February 2024 after his previous business — Fastlane Truckers — encountered what he called “serious financial problems.”
And his plan to return home to India to visit family for the first time in five years has been put on hold as he tries to dig himself out of a financial hole.
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