Less than two months before private road testers become government employees, some are threatening to walk off the job in protest.
In October, the province announced it would take over road testing starting March 2019. For private contractors, like driver examiner Jordan Cornfield, it means becoming a government employee in order to keep his job.
“They had told us what the compensation package was going to be, and it was, most times, about half of what we were currently making,” Cornfield told CTV News.
He plans to quit the industry soon, but is concerned about its future.
“Even after March 1, I’m not sure the amount of examiners that the province is going to have or plans to have trained by that point, it may be difficult to get a license in the next year in Alberta.”
The Alberta government has said the industry lacks oversight and integrity, but the Certified Driver Examiners Association’s executive director believes this is unfair.
“Like any other industry—yeah, we may have a few rotten eggs, but that doesn't paint the whole industry as doing things incorrectly,” Pete Llewellyn said.
He believes over 100 of the province’s 150 examiners will walk off the job Thursday.
However, the Ministry of Transportation has said 66 former private examiners have been hired by the provincial government.
According to Minister Brian Mason, any potential effect of work stoppage by the CDEA has been analyzed and is considered minimal.
Alberta’s driver test system was privatized in 1993.
With files from Jeremy Thompson
