If certain times of the year your job takes longer to do, and your boss said they no longer will cover that extra time would you still do the job?

I don’t work for free.

@SQUEEKY2: “Am I being reasonable?”

Of course!

Do you have a union?

Unless you are classified as a salaried employee, I’m not sure it’s even legal. I don’t know anything about Canadian labor law, but I would be willing to guess your boss could get himself in hot water for this.

@SQUEEKY2: In the US, we have the National Labor Relations Board. They would be the organization to complain to if there were violations of labor law. Do you have something like that in Canada?

I work for a union and I’m a union rep, and there was a time when we had someone who was being disciplined because he was late for work. When I asked for details, I found out he was picking up a truck from one location (parking lot) and driving to another location (his work place) where he had to park the truck on the street and he was arriving later than his start time. According to labor law, his work day started when he was picking up the truck at the lot, not when he was arriving at his work place. Not only was he not disciplined but the job ended up owing him and his two co-workers back overtime for three years. If the job (the county) did not agree to pay him back overtime for three years, we would have brought it to the NLRB, which would be a whole lot of problems for the employer. He and his two coworkers got about 25,000 dollars total. What a victory for us. Not only was he not disciplined, they owed him money, they looked like idiots and they learned about the definition of “work day.”

@SQUEEKY2: I just googled “Canadian labor law work day truck driver” and I got some sites with labor law explaining in detail. Check it out.

@SQUEEKY2 This has happened to me, and I resented it. I stayed, but then a couple years later they reversed the policy, and my impression was that someone legally challenged it, but I never got the details. By the time the policy was changed I was working in a different position.

I’ve been in many companies where policy changes in pay meant hundreds of employees would wind up earning less. Many competitors were already paying less.

You have some choices:

Say you’ll quit, and be ready to do so.

Organize with the other drivers and threaten to not show up for work without pay as a united force.

Talk to the company and try to come to a compromise if the company is actually suffering a loss and might close down.

No matter what I would check labor laws. Some countries don’t allow reductions in pay once established, but my guess is Canada does not have that law.

I would find another job. A salaried employee is often taken advantage of in my area.

It doesn’t sound like he’s salaried if he is complaining about not being paid for extra hours.

I am not salaried, the boss a few years ago came up with trip rates for the runs, and what each run gets paid ,example this run gets 13.5 hours , that run gets 11 hours, this other run gets 8hours, I get why the company did that only I don’t like it.
He wants to make sure no one is needless padding their hours.
There is a clause in our contract about bump time if you go over the trip rate they can take the first hour but then have to start paying for everything after that.
Now he thinks everything over the trip rate can be bumped, and our union seems to want to do little to nothing about it.
My problem is these trip rates are do able in good road conditions but very tight, and almost impossible when road conditions are poor say in the winter.

Example a few years ago two drivers were coming up on a bad accident road closed both called dispatch and asked what did they want, like turn around and go home, take a detour that would have added around three hours to each driver, both were told to go wait for the road to clear 5 hours and the company refused to pay them for it.

@SQUEEKY2: Google what I showed you above. There’s a chart that details things. If I go to my other computer I can link it for you (something wrong with the mouse on this computer and I can’t cut and paste the link).

You should show the details to the union and they should back you in your fight.

If the union doesn’t back you, they have a Local and a Region that you can go to (union local and regional office).

These things are not up to your boss to decide. There are laws that you all work under whether he likes it or not, and whether he agrees with the laws or not.

It sounds like what this amounts to is your company transferring the risks of the unforeseen from their business model to your back. You know your boss & the company you work for. I know things are tight for trucking industry employees as with workers in virtually every category thanks primarily to massive American deregulation insidiously desisigned to achieve just that. Your company’s policy has a smell about it that reeks “let me see if I can get away with it.”

So, basically they are paying a fee for each job. Calling it hours is a little bit of a misnomer.

Exactly^^ but to stick to the trip rate in winter when it’s tight just to get done in the warmer parts of the year is just sleazy.
They know that it’s just another way of passing the costs down.
I just have to stick to my guns and not go when the conditions are shitty.

It seems unfair to me and very stressful. It’s also bound to impact on road safety..
Some interesting comments on the trucking industry here The comments were made a few years ago but still sound relevant.

@SQUEEKY2 It’s because they are taking something away from you that it pisses you off. If you were hired in that way it wouldn’t bother you as much.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t be annoyed, and I’m not saying you shouldn’t choose to not work some jobs in the winter either. I say, you’re experienced, they need drivers (I assume Canada is like America needing truck drivers). I think you have some power, so within reason do what you want to do. I regret bending myself out of shape too much to please employers. It’s a difficult balancing act.

That’s just it^^ this company was top of the line and in 2009 sold to another trucking company and since it has been going down hill ever since.
The old owners were out standing,if the roadswere going to hell the phone would ring and you were told to stay home, not saying some of us didn’t get caught out in bad weather from time to time,and the old owners had a bump time but after that first hour you were back on the clock until done.
Maintenance was never an issue if something needed fixing it was fixed.
And the thing that impressed me the most about the old owners was safety never got in their way they talked the talk, but by god they also walked the walk.
Not so much with the new owners, we have had to limp some pretty sick equipment about till we would just say GET IT fixed NOW!!!!
Why I stay is 10 years seniority and 4 weeks holidays and for the most part home every day, but I am so close to telling them to shove it ,it aint pretty.

@SQUEEKY2 Ah, new owners. If you mentioned that before I missed it. You certainly can look around and see if another company will give you the vacation and some of the guarantees you want. Meanwhile, if you can just refuse some work without much downside, go ahead and give yourself a break.

Thanks ^^ @JLeslie when I refuse to work in bad conditions the big boss blows his stack but I am at the point of not caring, the arthritis in my knees makes chaining up extremely painful, and not being paid for those extra hours just frosts me to no end.
He always comes back we are way behind on loads , well 2 weeks ago had me working on another haul NOW we are way behind go figure.

And to answer others YES we have a union but I think the company bought them off with booze and hookers because they do little to nothing for us.

I wonder what the competitors are paying? Do you think you are in line with the competitors? You might run into a problem if you are one of the highest paid in the group because of your seniority. Although, sometimes the ones there a long time are the underpaid. Since you are unionized, I’m guessing the more senior the more pay.