Truck drivers are the ones who keep the whole North American economy running. They’re the people delivering everything you can think of — groceries, gas, medical supplies, even building materials. But even though they’re so essential, a lot of drivers in both Canada and the U.S. say they’re having a tough time. They’re dealing with low pay, not getting paid for all their work, and feeling more and more pressure to meet deadlines that are just not realistic. And according to recent investigations and industry reports, wage theft, worker misclassification, and lax enforcement of labor laws are turning into serious problems.
One of the biggest frustrations drivers deal with is not getting paid for all the time they actually put in. Waiting to get loaded or unloaded, running through pre-trip inspections, sitting in traffic — none of that tends to show up in a paycheck when you’re paid by the mile. It’s a setup that makes it nearly impossible to earn decent money even when you’re grinding through 60-hour weeks. The hours pile up, but the pay doesn’t follow.
That reality is starting to get legal attention. In Washington state, investigators are looking into whether drivers were unlawfully denied overtime pay. The case rests on the idea that even if federal rules carve out exemptions for interstate drivers, Washington’s own labor laws may still require overtime. If drivers win, some could be owed years of back wages and additional damages.
But unpaid overtime is just one piece of it. A CBS News’ 60 Minutes report accused Super Ego Holding, a Serbian-owned trucking company in Illinois, of tampering with logging devices and withholding driver pay. While the company has denied the claims, the story put a spotlight on just how much pressure some drivers are operating under.
A report called Running on Empty: Truck Drivers in Canada Are Underpaid and Overworked surveyed hundreds of drivers and found that seven in ten drivers said they aren’t paid for all the hours they work — including time spent waiting at docks, border crossings, or doing vehicle checks. Nearly two-thirds said they’d experienced wage theft at some point, with the average loss coming in around $10,000 per driver. And 42% of company drivers felt they had been wrongly classified as independent contractors to avoid giving them proper benefits and protections.
Beyond the financial strain, the Canadian report also brings up serious safety concerns. Forty percent of drivers said their employers had pushed them to ignore safety rules, like driving longer than legally allowed, and 60% said they were forced to drive trucks that weren’t properly maintained.
All these problems aren’t unique to North America. The same issues keep showing up across Europe, Asia, Australia, and Latin America — long shifts, hours of unpaid waiting time, and growing financial strain as the cost of fuel, vehicle upkeep, and everyday living keeps climbing.
Driver shortages are also becoming a real headache in many of these places, but industry groups are pretty clear about one thing: getting new people into the profession isn’t going to happen until the pay and working conditions actually improve. The rules and regulations differ from one country to the next, but the message coming from drivers themselves is basically the same everywhere — they want to be paid fairly for every hour they work and to do their jobs without being pressured to sacrifice safety for a paycheck.
