A New Twist on the Same Shortage

British Columbia has been extremely vocal about their “driver shortage”. Even more, now that the Olympics are coming to Vancouver. Their idea of a career and a job is amusing:

Trucking industry starts push to recruit new drivers
A big segment of British Columbia’s trucking industry wants to promote truck driving more as a career and less as just a job as a means of shoring up its shortages.

Among its recommendations, the B.C. Trucking Association wants the industry to promote pre-licensing training standards, develop a network of training centres to deliver the courses and advocate for better financing mechanisms for that training.

Ask any driver in BC about a driver shortage and you will get the same answer as any where else – There’s only a shortage of drivers willing to work cheap.

The difference between a job and a career isn’t a piece of paper. Most people don’t choose trucking for its career path. Most people don’t leave trucking because of its lack of career path either. There is a career path for drivers but it involves more than a piece of paper and it requires duties other than driving, which to fix a driver shortage, is not what they are really looking for.

Like anywhere else, the answer is pay, home time and respect. Local trucking jobs pay less than long haul because employers think drivers will take a pay cut in order to be home. There shouldn’t have to be a compromise in pay or respect. As usual, this is only another ploy to reinforce the driver shortage urban legend. If people and the government see it in print often enough, then it must be true.

Originally posted 2007-08-10 06:10:14.

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Comments

Chris Floyd #

Years ago the Transport Workers Union in the Australian state of Victoria were intrumental in lobbying government to introduce Graduated Licencing for truck endorcements to stop newcomers to the industry going from a car to a 43 tonne semi. As a broader initiative to improve the reputation of the industry which also included Zero Blood Alcohol for Heavy Vehicle Drivers, inexperience was successfully identified as the main contributer of truck accidents.

While the rigours of economic rationalism & the targeting of Union influence by conservative politicians ensures a career in truck driving is still not an easy one, it has developed a change in employer mentality to one of ‘investing’ in experienced drivers rather than just employing a qualification on paper.

Admittedly, this did create an artificial shortage of heavy vehicle drivers since it took a number of years for someone to advance from a light truck to heavy articulated. Such a program would be even harder to implement in an environment where there is already a shortage of drivers. Lobbyists would have to target the welfare of the non-trucker public who suffer most from accidents involving trucks rather than the conditions & pay scales of experienced truck drivers.

Matt #

I wish the American drivers could be so lucky, but I think the future only holds more of the same.

Wayne Weisser #

Great observation Chris, I hope you decide to write more.

Chris Floyd #

It is hard to pull positive examples, insulated from the political history of one country & transplant them in another countries environment as we are learning in Iraq. Much of the benifit awarded to Australian truck drivers & workers generally is the second major Party in Australian politics, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) which is significantly supported by trade unions.

It is often used as a critism by popular conservatives, the Liberal Party/ National Party coalition that the ALP is run by unions. American conservatives would probably brand them as communists, but Australia is not hyper sensitive to the word ‘communist’ & media routinely refer to the ‘right & left’ of Australian politics.

I don’t know the political landscape of Canada & would assume their British & French history would make them favorable to People Power, but sharing a land border with the U.S.A. they could be heavily influenced by conservatism.

If I were to name one thing that would make Australian politics work for average citizens more than any other democratic country it would be ‘Compulsory Voting’. Opposition parties don’t win Australian elections, governments ‘lose’ them!

Compelling people to vote who take little or no interest in politics does not encourage them to listen to alternative candidates, but they are more than happy to vote against governing parties who are not working in their interest. Change that & you will change the face of America!