Waiting game underway in axle weight protest

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Organizer Jagroop Singh Bangli.

MILTON, ON – Aggregate haulers in the western Greater Toronto Area continue their protest against a crackdown on axle weights, occupying three Ministry of Transportation inspection stations and the route to a nearby quarry.

Now it’s a waiting game.

The eastbound scales near Highway 401 and Trafalgar Road, which has become the main gathering point for protesters over the past three days, is still packed with trucks even though most of the drivers are elsewhere. Organizer Jagroop Singh Bangli continues to work his cellphone there, sharing details about a meeting that was held on Wednesday with Ontario Ministry of Transportation representatives.

“There’s lots of pressure on them,” Bangli says of the Ministry of Transportation, referring to the demand for aggregate that these trucks would normally haul. He expects a response from government officials within days. In the meantime, everyone continues to monitor WhatsApp for any details about the job action, which was first organized at a Sikh temple in nearby Brampton.

They aren’t alone in the fight, either. Ron Barr, general manager of the Greater Ottawa Truckers Association, arrived at the scale this morning in a show of solidarity.

"We've got to hold those that load us accountable," says Barr.“We’ve got to hold those that load us accountable,” he says, echoing the protesters’ complaint that truck operators pay weight-related fines while quarries profit. If a quarry adds an extra four to five tons of payload on each truck, every fifth load is essentially free, Barr notes. The drivers, meanwhile, have two choices if they think that’s happening – complain and be sent home without work, or take the load and risk being stopped at the scale.

He certainly doesn’t believe in the option of reducing gross weights to meet the axle limits.

“If I’m going to spend a quarter of a million dollars on a truck, I’m going to get every ounce I can on that truck because a lot of guys are running ton-mile rates. It’s incumbent upon them to capitalize on the investment that’s supposed to carry a full capacity of 39,000 kg,” he says.

The question now is whether the protesters will secure any changes from the Ministry of Transportation. The recent hard line on axle weights followed four years of a softer approach. The latter came about when truck operators last protested at the Trafalgar scale.

“I understand what they’re doing here,” Barr says. “My fear is the ministry can make them sit here for a month, and they’re losing $1,000 a day. Then nobody really wins.”

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John G. Smith is Newcom Media's vice-president - editorial, and the editorial director of its trucking publications -- including Today's Trucking, trucknews.com, and Transport Routier. The award-winning journalist has covered the trucking industry since 1995.


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