Fuel truck driver says delays at refinery picket line took all day

Delays caused by picketing at the Co-op refinery had one truck driver sitting in the queue from morning until night.

Anthony Demyen, a driver for Len Grant Trucking in Regina, never actually hit the road.

The trucker said he arrived at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, finding about a dozen trucks waiting on the side of Fleet Street.

Demyen said he waited for about three hours before he reached the entrance. Once through the gate, he loaded up and waited some more.

“I was in a day cab so there’s no bunk, no nothing. So it’s pretty frustrating after a while. Pretty uncomfortable. You only want to go outside for so much to walk around because it’s pretty cold out,” Demyen said. “I brought enough food for about 10 hours. I ran out of food (and) ran out of water.”

When it was time for him to leave, it was 9:30 p.m. and he had to be relieved by another driver.

As a labour dispute continues between Unifor Local 594 and Co-op centred on pensions, the Saskatchewan Trucking Association has been raising concern over stories like Demyen’s.

This week, the association released a statement urging respect for drivers, saying delays like these are hurting members because industry regulations only permit so much driving time in a day.

Under provincial rules, that’s 13 hours of driving after eight consecutive hours off duty.

According to Demyen, Co-op rules dictate that all hours spent at the refinery are counted as on-duty hours.

Some truckers get paid by the kilometre so if they’re not headed toward their destination, they’re sitting for free, he said.

While he was “fortunate” to be getting paid for his time, Demyen wasn’t happy about the wait.

“You want to do your job. You don’t want to just sit there over something out of your control and you’re not really part of,” he said.

The cost might have been paid elsewhere. Demyen’s wife runs a home salon. He said she had clients booked and was expecting him to be home that day to watch the kids.

“She had to hire somebody to come in here so she could do her clients. It cost us extra money in daycare and everything else,” he said.

Demyen said he felt caught in the dispute between the union and the company. He said the actions of picketers were “unfair,” that they should have let a few trucks pass at a time.

The STA’s statement said many drivers have been facing harassment and verbal abuse.

That hasn’t been the case for Demyen but he said picketers were frustrated with him when they told him to get in line.

“They directed me to back into oncoming traffic to get onto the side of the road and there was a truck behind me. They’d just get mad at me because I wouldn’t back up because it was dark and there was traffic coming,” he said.