Canada’s fast delivery comes at a cost for migrant truck drivers

Online shopping has changed what consumers expect from delivery .

Goods move between warehouses and stores to reach homes and businesses quickly, often within days or even hours.

That speed depends on a vast transportation system and the people who keep it moving.

Our new research on migrant labour in Canada’s trucking industry highlights how the pressure to move goods quickly and at low cost shapes the conditions under which drivers work.

We surveyed 203 immigrant truck drivers online, then interviewed 33 migrant drivers from different countries and with different immigration and employment statuses.

We also spoke with 14 people working across the trucking industry.

Across our survey and interviews, drivers described long working days, uneven pay and long stretches away from their families.

Some migrant drivers also said their immigration status made it harder to refuse difficult working conditions or speak up when they felt they were being treated unfairly.

Freight rates, schedules, pay structures and contracting arrangements can all determine how much of the pressure reaches the driver.

Competition pushes costs down Canada’s trucking industry changed after deregulation in the late 1980s.

Statistics Canada documented how the 1987 Motor Vehicle Transport Act relaxed restrictions on entering the industry and increased competition between carriers.

Today, large carriers compete alongside smaller companies and owner-operators.

Brokers and subcontractors can also create several steps between the company that needs goods moved and the driver who eventually hauls them.

This competition can create an incentive throughout the industry to complete trips as cheaply and efficiently as possible.