Survey finds rising number of truck driver applicants seeking illegal work arrangements

More than one in three truck drivers applying for jobs with Canadian trucking companies are asking to work under an illegal misclassification scheme, according to a new survey conducted by the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA).

The survey found the practice, known as Driver Inc., is particularly widespread in Ontario, where nearly half of job applicants are reportedly looking to operate within what the CTA calls a growing underground economy.

Driver Inc. is a labour and tax avoidance scheme in which some trucking companies misclassify employee drivers as personal services businesses (PSBs). The CTA says this misclassification allows employers to skirt payroll taxes, deny benefits and bypass basic labour laws, while drivers avoid paying some or all of their income taxes.

“For a decade, governments at every level turned a blind eye to this illegal practice, which creates an uneven playing field, undermining honest, compliant businesses that follow the law,” the CTA said in a release.

The survey received responses from 83 carriers representing a combined 10,600 trucks. Collectively, they reported nearly 18,000 driver applications over the past six months. Of those who were screened or interviewed, an average of 36 per cent indicated a preference for working under the Driver Inc. model, rather than as employees or legitimate owner-operators.

Even when companies explained they would not participate in the illegal misclassification, nearly half of those applicants — 49 per cent — declined the job.

Ontario accounted for 53 of the 82 respondents who disclosed their province. The rest were based in Alberta (10), British Columbia (4), Manitoba (4), Quebec (5), Atlantic Canada (5) and Saskatchewan (1).

In Ontario, 47 per cent of carriers reported applicants asking to be misclassified as independent contractors, and 65 per cent of those candidates walked away from the job when told the company would not break the rules.

Half of Ontario carriers said between 50 and 100 per cent of their applicants demanded to work under the Driver Inc. model, with 13 carriers reporting that more than three-quarters of their candidates insisted on it.

“Across Canada it’s becoming increasingly difficult for companies that want to obey the law to hire anyone legally – and in some markets in Ontario, it’s almost impossible to do so,” said CTA president Stephen Laskowski.

“The underground economy is out of control. By disregarding this lawlessness, Ottawa and many provincial governments have created conditions whereby honest, responsible companies that want to hire workers cannot do so because working in the underground trucking economy has become so normalized that an increasing number of potential workers in Canada refuse to work legally,” Laskowski said.

“If the party that wins next week’s election is truly serious about creating legitimate, well-paying jobs that protect workers’ human rights, then they need to get serious about fixing the out-of-control underground economy in trucking – immediately.”