THE United Truckers Association has called a general meeting of its membership and invited MPs, MLAs and mayoral candidates for Surrey and Delta to attend and provide an explanation on the lack of progress on a number of “policy gaps.”

The UTA said this week that in recent months, UTA members have faced a waiting time crisis at the Fraser Surrey Docks (FSD) terminal that result in 10-12 hours of wait, unsafe working conditions and no waiting time pay in spite of commitments from the federal government.

This is in addition to ongoing problems at the provincial level regarding tag mobility and wage increases that have been overdue for years. Further, truck parking in the municipalities of both Delta and Surrey represent promises that have been made since 2014 that still haven’t come into effect, according to the UTA.

The UTA is once again holding a general meeting to allow members to share their personal experiences and grievances with the politicians that have promised action but failed to deliver, according to UTA spokesperson Gagan Singh.

He added: “It seems that the UTA and our membership are being taken for granted by all levels of government and our upcoming meeting on October 7 about demanding accountability from elected officials. The UTA remains ready to discuss specific policy solutions to a range of problems, but the speed of the government is leading to huge frustration amongst drivers and owner operators.”

The issues that UTA is trying to resolve:

* City truck parking (municipal)

* Truck tag labour mobility (provincial)

* Pay adjustments within the Container Trucking Act and Regulation (provincial)

* Enforcement against ongoing wage violators (provincial)

* Waiting time pay systemic problems (federal)

* Broken promises from the 2014 joint action plan (federal)

“We are optimistic that following this meeting, we can really start to formulate some details and an action plan to turn promises into reality,” said Gagan Singh.