The Ontario Aggregate Truckers Association (OATA) has announced that a deal has been reached between aggregate producers, vendors, brokers and aggregate haulers that will give the aggregate haulers a large retroactive rate increase.
OATA president Jagroop Singh said today that Dufferin Aggregates, Lafarge and other producers have agreed to give vendors increases of 20 to 25 per cent on current bid rates effective March 1.
As a result, Singh said, truckers have returned to work and as of today they have resumed hauling.
Singh sent out a memo yesterday announcing a deal with Dufferin.
“OATA has made the decision to call off all demonstrations at Dufferin sites across the board,” stated the memo. “We urge all other producers in the industry to follow suit and take prompt action as Dufferin has.”
Citing rising costs, especially in the price of diesel fuel, the truckers had withdrawn their services as of March 14 and were protesting outside the gates aggregate producers in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, delaying the departure of other drivers carrying loads. Construction association executives, concerned that concrete pours would be disrupted at jobsites, wrote to Premier Doug Ford last week asking for measures to mitigate against broader cost increases in the industry.
Patrick McManus, executive director of the Ontario Sewer and Watermain Association, called the settlement “certainly a positive move forward.” He said the association stakeholders would be meeting later Friday to seek regulatory action to try to help mitigate future conflicts.
“The intent would be to regulate the brokerage firms for truckers and make the process more transparent overall,” he said.
Watch for more details as they become available.
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