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drivers cost the Canadian trucking sector $3.1 billion in revenue. “There is always companies looking to fill those (trucker) jobs. I’ve seen job postings for 100 people at a time,” Bailey said. “I’m looking at recruiting from Dubai.” Despite the downturn in the forestry sector, major projects like the Site C dam and construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline are attracting drivers away from other sectors. “We’re talking about billions of dollars. It’s hard for the forestry guys to keep up with it,” he said. Those major projects are unionized, he added, and draw their drivers from union call lists. The problem is not about the number of trained drivers available, it’s about keeping them behind the wheel.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
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I’ve got some trucking companies with a 100 per cent turnover rate.
“What we’re seeing is not a shortage of skilled people. We’re training about 30,000 Class 1 holders alone (each year in Canada). In B.C. we’re doing 4,500-plus a year, on average. There is
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only 44,000 trucking jobs in the whole of B.C.,” Bailey said. “It’s a hard lifestyle. A lot of it is at night. Truckers are working (up to) 14-hour days. You’re just driving and sleeping. (And)
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the younger generation just isn’t doing it.” A significant number of trained drivers never end up working in the field, or leave after a short time, he said. In its report, Trucking HR Canada identified a voluntary turnover rate for drivers, a lack of millennials going into trucking and a low participation rate by women as some of the major barriers to filling vacancies. “I’ve got some trucking companies with a 100 per cent turnover rate,” he said. Bailey is a member of the Commercial Vehicle Training Association and is a member of the provincial steering committee developing a mandatory entry-level training program for Class 1 drivers in B.C. Consultations on the proposed training program began in 2019. Across the province 3,741 cont. on page 6
