THE United Truckers Association announced on Monday that this week they will stage daily protests outside the constituency office of Labour Minister Harry Bains between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. A minimum of ten trucks will be in attendance every day.

The UTA said that weeks of protests outside the offices of NDP Surrey and Delta caucus members have been met by silence by the BC government and, as a result, it is ramping up its efforts to initiate change.

It said in a statement: “This comes after a letter to Minister Bains this past week detailing how the BC Container Trucking Commissioner is in contravention of Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, did not address the issue and instead passed responsibility onto the Minister of Transportation.”

UTA spokesperson Gagan Singh said that if the government thinks that ignoring the UTA is going to dampen the organization’s resolve, it has completely misjudged this situation.

“Local and international laws and rights are being broken, labour abuses are rampant, illegal activity is being accepted, and yet this government is doing nothing,” said Singh. “The number of owner operators stepping up to take decisive action against this NDP government is growing with every day of silence.”

The UTA said that the BC government and Commissioner continue to provide no solutions to counteract:

* Unlicensed trucks taking work away from legitimate owner operators

* A current environment that equates to a modern form of indentured labour

* No enforcement for law and rule breaking

*Widespread cheating and undercutting

The UTA said it will continue protests, rallies and aggressive advocacy until it receives a valid response from the BC government followed by decisive corrective action.

“This is only the start of our efforts, and further inaction from the Premier and his caucus will create a level of instability that could result in a similar outcome to the labour disruption of 2014,” warned Singh.