On August 14th, Justice Beaudoin granted the Ottawa International Airport Authority an injunction that limited the size and scope of the ongoing protests by striking taxi drivers. It also prohibited certain forms of noise-making that was negatively impacting airport operations, passengers, visitors and employees. Today, Unifor, the union that represents the striking drivers is returning to the courts for two purposes; to have the trespass notices issued against several of its members including local union leadership lifted, and to be able to resume excessive noise-making activities.
Protesting drivers turned to drumming and other means of making noise, including the use of 45-gallon steel drums and metal rods to create excessive levels of noise. These same metal rods were used to bang on the protest area’s steel enclosure fencing, to the point where much of it was destroyed.
“The Airport Authority cannot tolerate acts on airport premises that impair its ability to fulfill its regulatory and operational obligations” said Mark Laroche, Airport Authority President and CEO. “We will vigorously defend our ability to provide a safe and secure airport for our passengers, employees and the general public”.
The airport serves nearly 5 million passengers per year, including VIP and Canadian Forces personnel movements. The excessive noise this protest has created forms a barrier to communication by security teams among themselves and with all stakeholders, including the use of radios, cell phones and verbal communications. The ability to communicate is required to address any observations of and measures to address threats and dangerous situations or during airport emergencies. The noise hinders the Authority’s ability to maintain a security buffer zone at the entrance to the terminal, an area that is the first layer of defence in the Airport Security Plan. It distracts security resources who are in this zone to detect, respond and prevent threats, and it has forced our passengers out onto the roadways, into traffic, as they avoid the noise.
Sound level readings measured by Airport Authority employees, both inside and outside the terminal, regularly registered readings that exceeded Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations. The protesters themselves had to wear ear protection while our security staff were not able to due to the nature of their jobs. City of Ottawa By-law Officers were brought in to take their own readings which matched ours, resulting in the use of drums and like materials being banned from the protest area.
In an effort to avoid taking up the court’s valuable time, the Authority offered Unifor several reasonable concessions which included lifting the trespass notices, and we agreed not to trespass members in the future for noise violations caused by making unamplified noise. We indicated however that the use of drums, which the Authority considers to be a tactic used solely to disrupt and annoy, would not be allowed. The union turned down our offer and is proceeding to court.
The Airport Authority believes this dispute has gone on far too long. “As a supplier to the Authority, Coventry Connections needs to renew its efforts to resolve outstanding issues with its taxi drivers, and the union must be open to the proposed new business model that has been serving the needs of the airport's customers since August”.
About the Airport Authority
OMCIAA operates Ottawa International Airport without government subsidies under an 80-year lease transfer agreement with Transport Canada. The OMCIAA’s mandate is to manage, operate and develop airport facilities and lands in support of the economic growth of Canada’s Capital Region. More than 4.5 million passengers are served each year, generating more than $2.2 Billion in total economic activity in Ottawa and Gatineau.