Commercial inspectors are using billboards and radio advertisements to warn the driving public that the trucks next to them may not be road safe and that the only way to fix the problem is to hire more inspectors. Truckers say the workers’ union that paid for the ads is merely using the public’s fear of large trucks as a collective bargaining tool.
That truck behind you may not be road safe, say the billboards and radio ads paid for by the Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement division of the British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union. They’re the workers hired by the province to conduct truck inspections.
I’ve been completely shocked at what they’re doing, said Greg Decker, a long-hauler from Airdrie, Alberta, and a member of OOIDA and the Owner-Operators Business Association of Canada.
It’s union bargaining is what it is. We’re just caught in the crossfire, he said.
An official with the union insists that the advertisements are about road safety and denies that the ads are being used to force the government’s hand.