You may be one of them. DriveTest says about 4,000 people per day have not been able to get their driver’s licence because of the ongoing strike.“These are already tough economic
times and preventing people from getting their driver’s license is not helping anyone,” says Paul Dalglish, managing director, DriveTest.“This strike is harmful to both our employees and our customers. We have been at the bargaining table from the start and are eager to get back to the table as soon as possible so we can restore services to our customers.” The strike was called on Aug. 21 but employees didn’t begin petitioning outside the Oshawa DriveTest
Centre on John Street until Aug. 24.

In the beginning, issues over negotiations were tight-lipped but word has surfaced that the main issue is over supervisor positions and their role.“The USW (United Steelworkers Union) is opposed to the way we use supervisors and part-time employees to serve our customers, and they claim this has created ‘unacceptable working conditions’ for our employees. The fact is, we simply need flexibility to properly manage our services.

That includes managing the very seasonal fluctuations in this operation,” explains Dalglish. Seasonal operations such as the 60 per cent workload increase through the summer months, states a press release from DriveTest.

“Most people understand that large fluctuations in workload mean you have to adjust your workforce up and down to accommodate your customers,” says Dalglish, adding fewer than five per cent of DriveTest employees were laid off over the last two years and that was one lay-off that lasted about six to eight weeks. Dalglish says this flexibility has allowed the company to decrease wait times for road tests from nine months several years ago, to only
one month now. Another issue causing concern at the bargaining table is overtime hours.

“Given the nature of this service, we also need the option of requiring employees to work some extra hours when things are particularly busy,” Dalglish explains. Mandatory overtime averages less than five hours per employee per year, states DriveTest.

“Imagine if you were a customer at a small DriveTest Centre in Northern Ontario that only has two or three customer service agents. If the USW had its way, the supervisor would be forced to sit behind the counter doing paperwork - even if the customers were lined up
waiting for service,” explains Dalglish.

“That is just not good customer service. The way we currently operate, that supervisor would jump in to help take care of the waiting customers.” In total, 585 employees of DriveTest are represented by USW.“The company is very proud of the work of its employees. We remain hopeful that the USW will return to the discussion and reach an agreement so that our employees can return to work, resume their regular pay cheques and provide their usual excellent service to the public,” adds Dalglish.