A convoy of truckers fed up with the lengthy driving examiners strike navigated their rigs along the GTA's busiest highways during rush hour and made their way to Queen's Park Tuesday to stage a rally.
The Truck Training Schools Association said it expected as many as 100 big rigs to hit the roads together starting around 8am. The convoy rolled along the QEW, Highway 401, down the Don Valley Parkway and eventually ended up at the legislature.
"We just want this situation fixed because, as driving schools, what's happening right now is we are essentially going out of business because we've got students backlogged on our system that can't finish the programs," Gordon Brown of the Truck Training Schools Association said.
Driving examiners across the province walked off the job on Aug. 24 and organizers are hoping Tuesday’s protest will pressure the government to resume testing. The Trucking Schools Association says the job action, now in its 10th week, has ground its business to a halt.
The strike has prevented thousands of would-be drivers across Ontario from taking their road test, and schools are struggling with low enrollment and sagging profits.
Negotiations between the United Steelworkers Local 9511, which represents the nearly 600 striking workers, and Serco DES, the company the province contracted out to run DriveTest centres, continued with a mediator this past weekend.
Union members are set to vote on an offer this week, but local USW president Jim Young told CityNews.ca the union is recommending workers reject the deal.