The Canadian supply chain is being challenged to comply with the recently introduced Modern Slavery Act, which is designed to mitigate corporate and consumer purchasing of products that are produced or supported by illegal labour practices throughout the world.
CTA recently addressed Supply Chain Canada Conference attendees in Edmonton on how forced labour and labour abuse in the domestic trucking industry is growing and how these activities need attention by supply chain participants.
“CTA is raising the alarm bell to corporate Canada and companies who have made commitments to human rights and ESG values, that they need to pay close attention to who their transportation providers are and ensure they are in compliance with Canada’s labour standards and laws,” CTA president Stephen Laskowski told the room full of shippers and supply chain professionals.
“Know that if you are employing a transportation provider who defies Canada’s basic labour rights, you may be exposed to many of the violations and unscrupulous behaviour you as companies are trying to protect workers from as part of your corporate and social goals,” said Laskowski.
Trucking fleets using the Driver Inc. model –CTA-BN-DriverInc-2024_public – can significantly lower costs through gross labour and human rights violations of both domestic and foreign workers and are routinely rewarded by the Canadian supply chain for their methods, explained Laskowski.
CTA welcomes the opportunity to educate associations and individual corporate entities on this issue and how it can be addressed in their supply chains.
A copy of the CTA’s presentation to Supply Chain Canada is available upon request at ctacommunications@cantruck.ca