Unionized Blue Line Taxi
drivers
have threatened strike action as of 2:30 p.m. Friday, claiming the taxi line
owners
have “refused to bargain and walked away from negotiations.”
“Our members have no choice but to take strike action,” said Lana Payne, national president of Unifor, which represents the drivers.
“Workers deserve respect, not ultimatums,” Payne said in a news release.
The union noted Blue Line workers voted 93.6 per cent in favour of strike action. The
company
presented a “final offer” on Sept. 3, and Unifor was instructed to provide a counterproposal.
“Once the union did so, the employer stopped bargaining,” the union said.
The union said the company is demanding a 20-per-cent increase in “taxi stand fees,” which drivers must pay to the company to pick up fares.
“A massive stand fee hike is a direct pay cut for drivers,” said Local 1688 President Bahdon Issa.
“Our members have shown overwhelming support for fair bargaining, and we will not accept an employer that refuses to meet us at the table and tries to impose its own terms,” Issa said in the news release.
Striking taxi drivers will set up picket lines at Blue Line Taxi offices at 455 Coventry Rd. on Friday afternoon.
The strike affects 494 full-time drivers at Blue Line Taxi, with potential impacts across other Ottawa taxi services.
