Truckers Caught in Squeeze Play

By Ben Meisner

The threatened strike by the Prince George Truckers Association is a symptom of a much larger issue that is simmering just below the surface. There is a growing feeling that as the forest giants concentrated their grip on the industry, they have also been able to flex their muscles on the companies below them on the feeding chain. As the control of the industry shrinks to fewer players, there is a propensity to squeeze those people in your employ knowing full well they have no where to turn. It was a problem cited when Canfor took over Northwood; it has been exacerbated with the Slocan-Canfor merger. The number of players in the forest industry has shrunk to a point where there are basically two players in this region both wielding huge power over those people in their employ whether directly or indirectly as contractors. Canfor makes the contractors show up with financial statement in hand to indicate to the company they have the financial means to get the job done. That may give the mega forest company some comfort in knowing they have hired a steady player, but unfortunately it also gives the big guys the opportunity to see the contractor’s bottom line and profit margin. Down the road, that knowledge could open the door for a tighter squeeze when it comes to bargaining for the next block of wood. Once squeezed, the contractor takes a similar approach in that as he (or she) is being driven down in the negotiation, they cut the rates of their subordinates. The truckers are a prime example.

At the recent meeting of the truckers (when the strike was called) one operator remarked “the contractors said they were looking out for the independent truck operator”. The roar of laughter almost brought down the house. So as the truckers try to band together (whether in the form of a union or not) there is a behind the scenes move to try and cut them out by placing them one level away from the forest companies and have them under the wing of the contractor, who without question, must first look after their company. Canfor and other giants don’t want to deal with a trucking association especially one that says, “union". That spells a different approach to bargaining and they are trying their level best to circumvent the issue. The contractors on the other hand are making moves to drive around the truckers by having their own iron moving the wood. During the last strike, the truckers received support from those drivers. What would happen in this instance remains a question. Throughout it all, there is this question, how can a company such as Canfor, which is logging beetle killed wood, and in most cases paying the meager amount of 15 to 25 dollars a load in stumpage, cry poverty? The price of lumber has never been higher, companies such as Canfor have been successful in barely maintaining the cost of living increases to the contractors and subsequently the truckers. The contractors, through new innovative ways, have been able to reduce the work force needed to harvest the product and so the question that quickly comes to mind is; who are the big winners in all this?

It is known that billionaire Jim Pattison has been quietly buying up more and more stock in Canfor over the years. Pattison is not known as a man who puts his money into the slot machine to try and make it grow. The collection of stumpage rates would make some say the province is awash in money from forestry, however, the cost of roads far outstrip what the people are receiving for what is, supposedly, a resource owned by us all In an interview, former Canfor Chief David Emerson said the companies in Canada have to get bigger in order to compete with their U.S. counterparts. The result has been a shrinking of the players and by the way those same players have had no difficulty in not only paying the duties imposed by the US, but have been able to maintain handsome profits as well. It leaves the people of the province feeling that we have not been getting our moneys worth out of a resource supposedly owned not by the individual forest giant but by all of the people who inhabit this province. Another pressing problem comes from media, which, for a host of different reasons, are reluctant to speak up.

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us