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DriveTest strike impacting those who need driver's licences

Northern Academy of Transport Training operations manager Tara Madore (centre) said the 14-week-old driving examiners' strike is negatively impacting both the business and her students' lives. She is seen with students Steven Marcil (left) and Daniel Ashawasega. Photo by Heidi Ulrichsen.

Northern Academy of Transport Training operations manager Tara Madore (centre) said the 14-week-old driving examiners' strike is negatively impacting both the business and her students' lives. She is seen with students Steven Marcil (left) and Daniel Ashawasega. Photo by Heidi Ulrichsen.

I think both Anthony & Outskirts Oscar make some good points. For me, the bottom line is that a healthy company should bring in at least as much money as it pays out. Certainly,...

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Dec 01, 2009

Some giving up jobs because of strike

By: Heidi Ulrichsen - Sudbury Northern Life

A 14-week-old driving examiners' strike has forced some Sudbury residents waiting to receive commercial truck licences to leave the city to find work, according to the operations manager of the Northern Academy of Transport Training.

Tara Madore said she has a backlog of seven students waiting to take their AZ or DZ (transport truck and dump truck) licence driving tests.

“A lot of them have jobs waiting. But they can't take the jobs because they don't have the license,” she said.

“There's two or three of them who have gone out of town to work (because they needed a job that didn't require a commercial truck license). Now it's affecting their home life. Some of them may have never have left their children, and are having to leave them for weeks at a time.”

About 500 Ontario driving examiners represented by United Steelworkers Local 9511 walked off the job Aug. 21 after failing to reach an agreement with their employer, DriveTest (Serco DES Inc.).

There are about 10 driving examiners in Sudbury represented by the union.

The company is contracted by the province to provide written and practical tests for those wishing to get various types of driver's licences.

Some the issues in the strike include supervisors doing the work of unionized employees, the company not providing training to more seasoned workers and part-time workers not knowing how many hours they'll be working, Local 9511 president Jim Young told Northern Life.

As of Nov. 12, DriveTest supervisors started providing limited services at seven DriveTest centres in the province, including one located in North Bay.

The only services provided will be written tests for all classes of licence, road tests for commercial licences (for transport trucks and other large vehicles) and out-of-province and out-of-country licence exchanges.

Madore said she's in the process of contacting the students who haven't been able to take their road tests yet, and booking them exam times in North Bay. Some haven't been behind the wheel of a truck since August.

“Since they haven't driven in a long time, you want to make sure they get back in the truck a little bit and get familiar (with driving) again,” she said.

“They're getting a little rusty because they haven't been behind the wheel. I want to make sure they have all opportunities to pass, and not just say 'OK, here's your road test. Get in the truck'.”

Daniel Ashawasega, 29, is in the final week of his training at the Northern Academy of Transport Training.

The man is in his first year of an apprenticeship as a truck and coach mechanic, and is hoping to get his AZ licence to make himself more valuable to employers.

Ashawasega said he's glad DriveTest has opened the centre in North Bay.

“I actually just went for a ride down there because I needed to do the written test,” he said. “It would be better if they (the DriveTest centres) were all open. It would be more convenient that way.”

Madore said the strike is negatively impacting the driving school business. She only has one student right now. Normally, the school would be training about eight.

The company has had to lay off two driving instructors and a secretary because of the effects of the strike, she said.

The province of Ontario has taken steps to ensure that people aren't breaking the law by driving with an expired driver's licence they can't renew because of the DriveTest strike.

The validity of some driver's licences expiring on or after Aug. 24 has been extended.

The extension applies to drivers who would have been required to successfully complete a driving exam to renew their licence, such as novice drivers, commercial truck and bus drivers and class G drivers over the age of 80.

Sgt. Gary Lavoie, who heads up the traffic management unit of the Greater Sudbury Police Service, said he's instructed officers not to lay any charges against people in the above categories whose licenses have expired.

“If your licence expired before the strike, you're out of luck,” said Lavoie.

The office manager of Valley Driver Training, Tanya Fitchett, said the number of students taking courses with the driving school has dropped, although she hasn't had to lay off any driving instructors because of the strike yet.

Fitchett said she is more concerned about the plight of some of her students.

Novice drivers can travel to North Bay to do a written test to get a G1 licence, which allows them to drive if a fully-licenced driver is also in the vehicle.

However, no practical driving tests beyond those for large commercial vehicles are being conducted right now. That means that nobody can get their G2 licences, which allow novice drivers to drive on their own.

“They cannot do their driving tests. Literally we know people who are losing their homes because they cannot work (because they need a driver's licence to get a job). That's how it has affected the system,” said Fitchett.

Teenagers working their way through the driver's licence system have also been impacted by the DriveTest strike.

Sixteen-year-old Blezard Valley resident Luke Blais, who has his G1 driver's licence, said he'd like to get his G2 driver's licence soon because it would provide him with better employment opportunities.

Blais currently works at the Metro grocery store in Blezard Valley. The mechanically-minded young man has even bought and fixed up his own truck, but can't drive it on his own yet.

“I can't really get a ride into town. It's kind of far. Nobody would want to drive me there. It would probably cost too much for my friends in gas,” he said.

“If I had my G2, I wouldn't mind. I could drive into town and get a job that pays more. That's what I'm hoping for when I get my licence.”

Faith Fraser, also 16, said her father is going to drive her to North Bay this week so she can write her G1 licence test.

“I've actually finished all of the class time at Valley Driver Training that I can do without my G1,” she said.

Fraser said she wants to get her G1 as soon as possible so she can start progressing through the driver's licence system.

“If I got it (my G1) this month, I'd be able to drive alone by July. But they (DriveTest employees) are planning to be on strike for a long time. So if I didn't (get my G1), I wouldn't even be able to drive going to university.”

North Bay DriveTest Centre

  • Located at 300 Lakeshore Drive, Unit 502
  • Open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 8:30 a.m-12 p.m. Friday
  • No calls will be answered at the centre
  • To schedule a commercial road test, fax info to (613) 482-4546
  • Other DriveTest facilities providing limited services are in Barrie, Brampton, Kitchener, Ottawa, Toronto and Thunder Bay

For more information, go to www.drivetest.ca.

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12 Comments

  • Sick of strike 12/14/2009 5:57:38 AM - Report Abuse

    I think both Anthony & Outskirts Oscar make some good points. For me, the bottom line is that a healthy company should bring in at least as much money as it pays out. Certainly, a few hundred people administering a drive test should be able to do so 'in the black'. Their wages shouldn't have to be subsidized by our taxes.

    When the MTO ran DriveTest, they ran it at a loss. They were hopeful private enterprise could do a better job of it so they allowed companies to bid for the job. Serco paid our government for the opportunity to run DriveTest for 10 years. It would have to make $114 million over ten years just to break even. Both parties know that. The exam fees are fixed, so the only way it could be run without losing money, was to cut back on wages.

    I think that the striking workers had some support when they first made demands to better their conditions. But it seems that they got all that they asked for - http://www.uswlocal9511.viviti.com/files/documents/Employers-Final-Offer.pdf - and still chose to continue the strike.

    THAT'S when the union lost a lot of support. 250 part time workers were willing to negatively affect 300,000 Ontarians, knowing that some were losing their livelihood and homes - simply because they wanted a tad more. IMO, that's shortsighted and selfish. The union negotiating committee should have accepted the proposal on Nov. 1st and let everyone get back to work. They would have been heros.

  • Anthony_5 12/11/2009 6:37:07 PM - Report Abuse

    No, Outskirts Oscar, the examiners aren't ruining anyones' lives. If you need someone to blame you should be looking at the Ontario government for giving this monopoly out to a private company in the first place. Have you bothered to read ANYTHING about what this strike is about?
    SERCO is laying off full time employees and hiring back part timers. Now, I'm not living in a cave; I realize that this becoming more common. That doesn't mean that it's the right way for a firm to cut costs. It's going to take groups like the examiners that have the balls to strike as long as it takes, to make sure this doesn't happen to YOU. What happens if this does become the norm because people like you are too selfish to see how this effects the bigger picture
    It's too bad that you've obviously already decided to roll over "The whole fairy tale of job security should be a label synonymous with jokers and fairy tales.."
    It will make it that easier in the future for your employer to lay you off in the summer(when there are fewer tractor trailer accidents)and offer you a part time job to come back to in the winter.


    As for your 'so-called' examiners, they are the ones that decide who you're sharing the roads with. So tell me, deputy safety officer and truck driver, how it makes you feel to know that if SERCO does get it's way, you'll be sharing the roads with people who have earned their licences from part time minimum wagers? Sounds like your job suddenly gets a whole lot more difficult doesn't it?
    How about when your company is stuck hiring from a pool of AZ drivers who took and passed fifteen minute road tests from other part time examiners. That's the kind of test being observed coming out of a Toronto driving school.

    I know that outskirts oscar isn't the only outspoken whiner out there, but I would expect that there would be some sort of professional courtesy between truck driver/safety offi

  • Outskirts Oscar 12/11/2009 4:57:01 PM - Report Abuse

    I am sincerely concerned for all these poor driving instructors out there that are trying to make a living and these so-called examiners are putting their livelihood up in jeopardy.

    While true that they are offering some services for people to get their classified (B,C,D,E, F and Z) licenses, I'm also worried for those getting their G-1s, G-2 or their G's. While most of them are probably not going to drive for a living, I find it very appalling that the Government is letting this shenanigan go for so long.

    However, let me clarify that those getting their G's or M's may not be getting them for making a living out of driving, but probably landing a job may be dependent on having a license. In addition, the youth trying to obtain a license, will have a vile attitude towards unions in general.

    Rotating strikes: probably I'd be more sympathetic but I say that you should count your lucky stars that you do have a job, even if it's part time. If you're an examiner, you could easily have another second job in a related field anyways. As a deputy safety officer / truck driver myself, I am NOT on the striker's side. They are ruining people's lives.

    The whole fairy tale of job security should be a label synonymous with jokers and fairy tales.

    However, with the Liberals of Dalton 'Blagojevich' McGuinty, their backbone is just as good as of an amoeba... or a jellyfish. Just non-existant!

  • sean10 12/5/2009 3:04:58 PM - Report Abuse

    canadians are too nice and patient, that is why these irresponsible unions keep taking advantages on them. Sooner or later, the people will retaliate and unions will be restricted politically!!!

  • tom_seguin 11/30/2009 12:33:27 PM - Report Abuse

    Some of us are actually waiting to get even our G1's in order to get our G2's so that we can use the licence for our jobs and but because of a nonsense strike we are getting screwed due to what? Wanting higher pay? How selfish some people can be!

  • think about it_1 11/30/2009 10:02:37 AM - Report Abuse

    For those travelling outside of Ontario, you can visit the MTO website and print a letter on Government of Ontario letterhead stating that the Highway Traffic Act has been amended and that all driver's licenses that expired on or after the strike start date remain valid until sometime in the summer of 2010. Unfortunately this isin't being advertised in the numerous articles about this labour dispute. Also, the MTO has apparently advised all police agencies in Canada and the USA about this provision.

  • 99gt 11/29/2009 1:10:01 AM - Report Abuse

    10-4

  • muff_1 11/29/2009 12:27:02 AM - Report Abuse

    Your figure of speech 99gt could leave some teenager with the impression that its ok to turn and burn without a licence(not just one that is expired). I was just clarifying a possible problem if they did not understand your "figure of speech"

  • 99gt 11/28/2009 3:13:28 PM - Report Abuse

    Figure of speech, Muff. You're going to be in the same boat whether you're driving without a lisence or an expired one in the eyes of the insurance.

    I've heard of numerous stories about people traveling out of province/country and having major issues, regardless of what the MTO says.

    If i get pulled over in Manitoba i highly doubt that the officer is going to care or is even aware that the MTO is on strike. He's gonna say your license is expired. If you want to dispute it that's what court is for. Here's your ticket, your cab, and tow truck.

  • muff_1 11/27/2009 10:26:44 PM - Report Abuse

    well 99gt lets hope when the pedal is to the metal nothing gets bent up. No insurance could become a much larger problem than no licence

  • 99gt 11/26/2009 1:48:27 PM - Report Abuse

    Drive without a license then. If the MTO wants to fuss thats what lawyers are for. "Sorry sir, you can't drive and make a living today because we're on strike." It could potentially be the biggest class action law suit ever.

    You might be repremanded in legal court but no way in heck will it stand up in civil...is that a road the MTO is willing to go down..potentially with thouasands of people?



    Take a hike & pedal to the metal is what i say.

  • 2010 11/26/2009 10:01:31 AM - Report Abuse

    Some the issues in the strike include supervisors doing the work of unionized employees, the company not providing training to more seasoned workers and part-time workers not knowing how many hours they'll be working. Those are very legit reasonable to strike, Good luck to yous all!