Truckers promise daily protests outside Labour Minister Harry Bains’ constituency office in downtown Newton.
On Monday morning, close to a dozen rigs parked outside the local MLA’s 137th office in a rally organized by United Truckers Association.
“Weeks of protests outside the offices of NDP Surrey and Delta caucus members have been met by silence by the B.C. government, and as a result, the UTA is ramping up our efforts to initiate change,” a news release says.
“This week, the UTA will stage daily protests outside the constituency office of Minister of Labour Harry Bains between 10 a.m. and noon. A minimum of ten trucks will be in attendance every day.”
Still no response from Minister @HarryBainsSN or any of the @bcndp government caucus
— United Truckers Association (@united_truckers) June 21, 2021
And @geoffmeggs, the Chief of Staff to Premier @jjhorgan who promised to look into our file during the election campaign? Complete silence#bcpoli #SurreyBC #Vancouver pic.twitter.com/z0TKXLjSgK
The truckers say local and international laws and rights are being broken, labour abuses are rampant, illegal activity is being accepted, “and yet this government is doing nothing,” said UTA spokesperson Gagan Singh. “The number of owner operators stepping up to take decisive action against this NDP government is growing with every day of silence.”
The truckers take issue with unlicensed trucks taking work away from legitimate owner operators, an environment “that equates to a modern form of indentured labour,” no enforcement for law- and rule-breaking, and what they call “widespread cheating and undercutting.”
The UTA will continue “protests, rallies and aggressive advocacy until we receive a valid response from the B.C. government followed by decisive corrective action,” the news release adds.
“This is only the start of our efforts, and further inaction from the Premier and his caucus will create an level of instability that could result in a similar outcome to the labour disruption of 2014,” Singh said.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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