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Locked-out Ottawa taxi drivers blocked the Airport Parkway at the Uplands Drive overpass Tuesday morning, stepping up their protest over an increase in airport pickup fees.
The drivers stood and sat on the overpass, forcing police to reroute traffic down to Uplands Drive to bypass the protest. Police and the Ottawa Airport Authority were urging drivers to avoid the parkway until further notice.
Tuesday’s impromptu protest was not sanctioned by the taxi drivers’ union, said Abed Madi, president of Unifor Local 1688, which represents the drivers.
“They are physically sitting on the bridge,” Madi said. “That’s something they’re doing on their own. Their kids are starting school. They don’t have money to buy their kids school supplies. You have Coventry Connections and the airport authority sitting in their ivory towers and these people can’t even afford to buy their kids school supplies.
“They’re fed up. They don’t care.”
The dispute began early last month when the Ottawa Airport Authority imposed a $5 pickup fee at the airport. That fee was passed on to the drivers by the dispatch service, Coventry Connections. The drivers protested and the company locked them out.
The union says the new fee will cost a full-time driver about $1,300 a month, compared to the old monthly charge of $345.
bcrawford@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
The drivers stood and sat on the overpass, forcing police to reroute traffic down to Uplands Drive to bypass the protest. Police and the Ottawa Airport Authority were urging drivers to avoid the parkway until further notice.
Tuesday’s impromptu protest was not sanctioned by the taxi drivers’ union, said Abed Madi, president of Unifor Local 1688, which represents the drivers.
“They are physically sitting on the bridge,” Madi said. “That’s something they’re doing on their own. Their kids are starting school. They don’t have money to buy their kids school supplies. You have Coventry Connections and the airport authority sitting in their ivory towers and these people can’t even afford to buy their kids school supplies.
“They’re fed up. They don’t care.”
The dispute began early last month when the Ottawa Airport Authority imposed a $5 pickup fee at the airport. That fee was passed on to the drivers by the dispatch service, Coventry Connections. The drivers protested and the company locked them out.
The union says the new fee will cost a full-time driver about $1,300 a month, compared to the old monthly charge of $345.
bcrawford@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
