It was a busy job fair not long ago in the Brampton Ontario area. The busiest I have seen since pre-pandemic days. Normally you go to the job fair around 10 am to crickets until the noon hour. Not this time I arrived at 10 am and the house was full. Record recruiters in the room along with a really busy crowd. As I walked the room and talked to a few of my recruiter friends I was surprised to hear many of them comment on the crowd and more than a couple commented that they believe the recent Driver Inc crackdowns may have something to do with it. Now I haven’t heard of any crackdowns specifically but we have all heard the CRA was planning to crackdown on companies not operating ethically. Maybe they are doing so in silence, possible. One of the recruiters mentioned they usually get a lot of inquiries about drivers wanting to operate as incorporated drivers, but had only been asked once at the job fair.
For those of you not familiar with the “Driver Inc” model, it has carriers hiring employees and then forcing them to incorporate like an independent business. They operate in this manner until they realize they have no employee protection from their employer and the carrier is getting away from paying payroll taxes and more. There were a few stories in mainstream media as some employees thought they should be paid and owed money only to find out they didn’t understand the operation model and were working as independent contractors even though they were provided with the equipment, dispatched by the company, and some were even deducted for incidents on the road.
Another thing mentioned at the job fair is that there were a lot of new people with under one year of experience looking for work. That is a good thing as it shows new people are coming into the industry and hopefully can fill some of the many seats required in the industry. Things are changing in transportation and I believe we are being forced to find new ways to attract talent to the industry. In fact we just talked about that at the recent TTSAO Conference where we found many carriers trying to create career pathways for their employees. Watch some of that conversation in the video below. Enjoy your new career.
About the Author
Bruce Outridge is a veteran in the transportation industry with over 40 years in the industry in a variety of roles from driver to fleet supervisor and more. Today he is a media specialist in the industry producing a number of programs for the trucking industry such as his trucking podcast The Lead Pedal Podcast for Truck Drivers at www.theleadpedalpodcast.com or his radio station Lead Pedal Radio at www.leadpedalradio.com
Disclaimer: This article is written and based on the opinion of the author and is for general information only