Wage theft, unpaid work time and misclassification remain deeply embedded in Canada’s trucking industry — particularly among long-haul drivers.
A new report, “Running on Empty: Truck Drivers in Canada Are Underpaid and Overworked,” is based on a 2025 survey of more than 400 truck drivers nationwide and concludes that current pay structures and weak enforcement allow systemic labor violations to persist across both federally and provincially regulated carriers.
The report was commissioned by the Labour Community Services of Peel and Parkdale Legal Clinic, and released in partnership with the West Coast Trucking Association and Justice for Truck Drivers.
It found that roughly 74% of drivers surveyed said they were not paid for all hours worked, with unpaid time frequently tied to essential but uncompensated tasks such as border delays, loading and unloading, vehicle inspections and waiting periods between dispatches.
Nearly 70% of respondents said they felt underpaid overall, while more than 60% reported at least one experience of wage theft.
Advocates behind the report say the results confirm what frontline legal clinics and driver organizations have been seeing for years.
“From the calls we’ve received, we knew this,” Navi Aujla, service director at Labour Community Services of Peel, said in a statement.
Misclassification drives pay gaps
A central driver of these wage violations, the report argues, is the continued misclassification of company drivers as independent contractors — a practice often referred to in the industry as “Driver Inc.”
More than 40% of surveyed drivers said they are currently misclassified, while another 25% reported being misclassified in a previous job, stripping them of overtime pay, vacation pay, benefits and access to labor protections. Many drivers said they are paid through personal corporations despite functioning as employees under company control.
People working as a truck driver in Canada usually earn between $19.45 and $43.27 per hour, according to federal data. The highest salaries for drivers were in the Yukon territory, British Columbia and Alberta
The report estimates misclassification allows employers to save tens of thousands of dollars per driver annually by shifting costs and liabilities onto workers, while leaving drivers with little recourse when wages go unpaid.
“These drivers should have access to all labor standards — paid vacation, benefits, workers’ compensation,” Marco Beghetto, vice president of communications for the Ontario Trucking Association, said.
Deregulation, enforcement gaps under scrutiny
The organizations behind the report trace the current labor landscape back to deregulation of trucking rates in the 1980s and 1990s, which they say fueled aggressive cost-cutting and low-bid tendering by shippers and brokers.
Without rate floors or consistent pay standards, carriers have increasingly pushed financial risk and unpaid labor onto drivers, according to the report.
In addition to wage issues, drivers reported widespread pressure to operate poorly maintained equipment, skip rest breaks or drive in unsafe conditions — compounding safety risks while unpaid time mounts .
While federal and provincial governments have announced new funding aimed at combating non-compliance in trucking, the report argues that enforcement remains slow and penalties insufficient to deter violations.
“Fixing misclassification alone won’t solve the problem,” the report concludes, calling instead for minimum pay standards, mandatory pay for all work time, faster complaint resolution and stricter penalties for repeat offenders .
For drivers, advocates say, the issue is no longer awareness — but whether governments are willing to impose consequences on companies that continue to operate outside the rules.
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