This trucker travelled 16,000 km in less than 2 weeks in March. He still hasn't been paid

It was the Tik Tok video that sealed the deal for Sourav Saini.

A minute-long spiel from a Punjabi-speaking influencer, singing the praises of Navkin Transport, a new trucking business in Brampton, Ont., where Saini lives. "There is a top-notch company providing trips to the U.S.," said the ad. "It's a great company with great work and guaranteed trips … We will rock!"

Saini, 24, already had his trucking licence and had been looking for a way into the industry. So he called the firm and set up an interview. The in-person pitch was even more appealing. 

"They said they're gonna be paying soon and no delays," Saini explained, noting that the company said it would also pay for layovers and time drivers spend waiting. 

But the job soon proved to be a disappointment. In March, Saini says he twice drove a company rig to California, with a co-worker, spending more than 10 days on the road and covering over 16,000 kilometres. But the promised paycheque never came.

"I'm owed like $3,000 from them," he said, noting the lack of a paycheque meant he was struggling to make payments for his car and rent. "I even had to borrow money from my friends."

Trucking is big business in this country. The industry employs close to 350,000 people, according to Transport Canada, with new firms starting up on a regular basis. But as the industry grows, so do issues surrounding payments for drivers, who often find themselves fighting for what they're owed. 

Industry wage problems getting worse: advocate

"It is a huge problem," says Navi Aujla, director of the Labour Community Services of Peel, a non-profit that has taken up the cases of more than 250 truckers over the last two years. "The majority of people that call us for help, it's related to wage theft. They've already had to leave the job because they haven't been getting paid."

Many of the drivers Aujla represents — including Saini — are recent immigrants who are attracted to long-haul driving because the in-demand industry is a reliable pathway to permanent-resident status. 

Trucking, a sector overseen by Ottawa, accounts for less than 20 per cent of federally-regulated workers. Yet the industry was responsible for 85 per cent of all wage-related Canada Labour Code violations between 2017-18 and 2021-22, according to government figures. 

And Aujla says the problem is getting worse, not better, with lengthening delays in processing complaints.

"In the last year, it's gone from like six months to start a case, to eight months," she said, noting that recent emails from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) have said it will take 10 to 11 months to start a claim.

If ESDC validates a claim, it can issue a payment order, but that's only the beginning. Employers can appeal, which adds months to the process.  

Payment orders often ignored

And companies frequently ignore payment orders, or have closed their doors by the time they're issued. 

Wage debts can be certified in Federal Court, which means a business's assets can be seized, however, it's ultimately up to the workers to collect what they're owed. And Aujla says that's a costly, time-consuming and often futile endeavour. 

"One of the big problems is a lot of these companies have purposely not been paying workers, knowing that they're going to shut down or open another business," she said. "By the time the claim is fully processed, they're gone."

Minister of Labour Seamus O'Regan declined a CBC News interview request. But his office provided a statement saying they take truckers' payment problems "very seriously," and "are working to strengthen our payment order system." 

Data obtained by CBC News shows that the federal government issued 542 wage payment orders against trucking companies in 2023. This year, the pace has almost doubled with 491 orders in just six months. 

Company intends to pay wages — when it can

CBC News also reached out to the owner of Navkin Transport Ltd., the firm that failed to pay Saini.

In an emailed statement, Hardev Taggar said he started the company in February 2024 after his previous business — Fastlane Truckers — encountered what he called "serious financial problems."

The company and associated entities are currently involved in a $15 million bankruptcy proceeding.

In a phone call with CBC News, Taggar admitted he owes a number of ex-Navkin employees a total of about $18,000. Money he says he doesn't have — but intends to pay back — when he can.

For his part, Saini has all but given up hope of ever seeing the money he's owed. When he realized he wasn't going to get paid, he says he began to search for a new trucking job, which took him "another four to five weeks." 

And his plan to return home to India to visit family for the first time in five years has been put on hold as he tries to dig himself out of a financial hole.

"It's already now, five to six months. But no response from the government," he said. "I guess the system is very easy to abuse these days."

Jonathon Gatehouse can be contacted via email at jonathon.gatehouse@cbc.ca, or reached via the CBC's digitally encrypted Securedrop system at https://www.cbc.ca/securedrop/