Unifor buses protesters in from Quebec, Ontario for taxi driver 'day of action'

Ottawa police are investigating and the union representing Ottawa airport taxi drivers is apologizing after protesting cabbies stormed the Coventry Connections dispatch centre on Friday morning.

Three people working inside the call centre required medical attention after protesting taxi drivers entered the building just before 8 a.m. About a dozen employees were inside at the time and were told to leave by the drivers.

Coventry vice president Marc Andre Way said some workers were pushed and shoved.

Two call centre employees suffering from chest pain were taken to Montfort Hospital as a precaution, paramedics said. Another patient was assessed by paramedics at the scene for a minor arm injury from an alleged assault, but did not need to be taken to hospital.

Ottawa police responded and told the protesting drivers to leave the building.

"I am floored, to be honest with you, I am floored," Way said on Friday. "It was to the point where the violence was heavy, to the point where some of our call-takers want trauma counsellors today. It's serious enough that they're affected."

Damage 'minimal,' police say

Coventry estimates the damage at about $75,000, but Ottawa police Duty Insp. Mark Patterson called the damage "minimal."

Coventry says computer cords were ripped out, security cameras were covered with garbage bags and others were disconnected, among other things.

The takeover of the call centre was planned by Unifor, the union representing the airport taxi drivers, as a labour dispute between the drivers and Coventry enters its third month.

As of 11:30 a.m. the protesting drivers — some of them bused in from Ontario and Quebec for today's day of action — remain positioned outside Coventry. A rally that had been planned outside City Hall has been cancelled.

'Really quite disconcerting'

"This is going well, well beyond how far they can go," said Coventry Connections president Hanif Patni from his home Friday.

"We're very, very disappointed with the union. ... In this country we live by the laws and we've got to stop this type of thuggish, forceful approach that the union leadership is attempting to demonstrate. ... The thing is that you're not allowed to commit violence, you're not allowed to damage property, you're not allowed to trespass and just walk into a property and hurt people in a secure call centre — people who are actually trying to get grandmothers and students to get them to school and work in taxi cabs ... so it's really quite disconcerting."

We've got to stop this type of thuggish, forceful approach that the union leadership is attempting to demonstrate.- Hanif Patni, president of Coventry Connections

On Friday morning, Unifor national president Jerry Dias said he wasn't at Coventry when the drivers entered the building, but that "there wouldn't have been any violence."

Later Friday morning, Dias apologized.

"I'm sorry if people felt threatened in any form; that wasn't what the intention was," he said. "But there's 250 families here that haven't had a paycheque in three months and they're feeling pretty isolated by the work that's being performed by people in [the call centre]."

In a full-page newspaper ad published this week in the Ottawa Citizen, Unifor said today's day of action is to call on federal, provincial and municipal leaders to work with both the Ottawa International Airport Authority and Coventry Connections to "find a fair solution" to the dispute.

'Passed the boiling point'

"We do not want to inconvenience people at all, but this has just passed the boiling point," said Dias on Thursday. "Nobody should have to go through what these [drivers'] families are going through."

​Taxi drivers have refused to pay a new pickup fee of $4.50 per ride charged by Coventry Connections for exclusive access to the taxi stand at the airport's arrivals level. As a result, they were locked out of the pickup stand at the airport in August.

• Ottawa airport taxi dispute hits 2-month mark
• Unifor calls for binding arbitration in airport taxi dispute

Coventry has long held a contract with Ottawa's airport authority to be the sole taxi provider at the Macdonald-Cartier International Airport.

With the authority now charging Coventry a higher rate for the right to provide that service — a move the dispatcher has said is fair — the company is now charging drivers more for the right to pick up fares at the airport.

Unifor says the higher fees would translate to a $1,300 per month paycut for about 250 drivers.

"No worker in Canada would accept that," said Dias on Thursday. 

'Stop this nonsense'

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said Friday that the protesting drivers are damaging the reputation of their entire industry by "ransacking" their dispatcher's office, and intimidating and hurting call centre workers.

Blocking roads comes at a "great public expense and inconvenience," Watson added.

"They need to get back to the table, settle their differences and get back to work — and stop this nonsense," he said.

'Stop this nonsense' mayor tells protesting taxi drivers

9 years ago

Duration 0:31

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson says protesting taxi drivers are damaging the reputation of their entire industry by "ransacking" their dispatcher's office, and intimidating and hurting call centre workers.

On Thursday night, the mayor said he didn't plan on meeting with drivers as they stage another disruptive protest, saying he "won't reward bad behaviour." 

Friday's rally comes one day after taxi drivers launched a protest on Bronson Avenue near Carleton University that snarled traffic and caught city police by surprise.

Police had no advance warning of the Thursday rush hour protest and dispatched officers to hand out tickets, said Ottawa Police Service Const. Marc Soucy.

Airport taxi drivers have previously marched through downtown Ottawa and held protests on the Airport Parkway over the fees — protests that have at times turned violent.