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Tensions between airport taxi drivers and Coventry Connections heated up Monday when locked-out drivers blocked rival Blue Line cabs from crossing their picket line.
Close to 300 Capital and Airport Taxi drivers, supported by their national Unifor union president, Jerry Dias, stood at the entrance of Coventry Connections on Coventry Road and blocked Blue Line drivers, who are under the same union, from leaving. They demanded the drivers hand over their white airport stickers on their windshields that gives them airport access.
“Scabs, remove the damn sticker if you want to go,” yelled one protester to drivers trying to leave for their shift.
The dispute between Coventry Connections and Unifor is entering its fourth week.
Dias said the company locked out 100 drivers who refused to pay a $5 airport fee imposed by the Ottawa Airport Authority and Coventry Connections for exclusive pick-up rights. He said the fee used to be a monthly charge of $345 and now will likely cost a full-time driver around $1,300 a month. He said the added fee would be passed on to passengers which would in turn line the pockets of the airport and their employer.
“So that’s a way for the Ottawa Airport Authority to make $1.3 million a year or more, and for Coventry to make another million,” said Dias, who says drivers are already struggling with heavy overhead costs and competition from Internet upstart Uber.
As of Monday afternoon, he said the two sides were ready to go back to the bargaining table to discuss the $5 fee.
Meanwhile the Ottawa Airport Authority issued a statement confirming that it met with Unifor Monday afternoon. While the authority said it “will not insert itself” into the labour negotiations, it hopes the drivers and Coventry will resolve their differences and will welcome the drivers back to the airport.
Dias said the fact Coventry is inviting one bargaining unit, Blue Line, to do the work of the locked-out drivers is aggravating an already difficult situation.
“It’s a problem because we have drivers from Blue Line that want access to the routes from the airport, and to a larger extent it’s undermining the dispute that we have going on,” said Dias. “If Blue Line drivers were not in the compound in the airport the dispute would have been settled days ago.”
pmccooey@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
Close to 300 Capital and Airport Taxi drivers, supported by their national Unifor union president, Jerry Dias, stood at the entrance of Coventry Connections on Coventry Road and blocked Blue Line drivers, who are under the same union, from leaving. They demanded the drivers hand over their white airport stickers on their windshields that gives them airport access.
“Scabs, remove the damn sticker if you want to go,” yelled one protester to drivers trying to leave for their shift.
The dispute between Coventry Connections and Unifor is entering its fourth week.
Dias said the company locked out 100 drivers who refused to pay a $5 airport fee imposed by the Ottawa Airport Authority and Coventry Connections for exclusive pick-up rights. He said the fee used to be a monthly charge of $345 and now will likely cost a full-time driver around $1,300 a month. He said the added fee would be passed on to passengers which would in turn line the pockets of the airport and their employer.
“So that’s a way for the Ottawa Airport Authority to make $1.3 million a year or more, and for Coventry to make another million,” said Dias, who says drivers are already struggling with heavy overhead costs and competition from Internet upstart Uber.
As of Monday afternoon, he said the two sides were ready to go back to the bargaining table to discuss the $5 fee.
Meanwhile the Ottawa Airport Authority issued a statement confirming that it met with Unifor Monday afternoon. While the authority said it “will not insert itself” into the labour negotiations, it hopes the drivers and Coventry will resolve their differences and will welcome the drivers back to the airport.
Dias said the fact Coventry is inviting one bargaining unit, Blue Line, to do the work of the locked-out drivers is aggravating an already difficult situation.
“It’s a problem because we have drivers from Blue Line that want access to the routes from the airport, and to a larger extent it’s undermining the dispute that we have going on,” said Dias. “If Blue Line drivers were not in the compound in the airport the dispute would have been settled days ago.”
pmccooey@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
