Blue Line Taxi workers hit the picket lines in Ottawa
Posted Sep 19, 2025 12:27:01 PM.
Last Updated Sep 20, 2025 09:08:19 AM.
If you need to take a taxi in Ottawa, your options are about to become more limited.
Blue Line Taxi workers in Ottawa will be on strike as of 2:30 p.m. Friday, saying the employer has refused to continue negotiations.
“Our members have no choice but to take strike action,” Unifor National President Lana Payne said in a press release. “The employer has refused to bargain in good faith, insisting on dictating the terms of the collective agreement instead of negotiating one. Workers deserve respect, not ultimatums.”
Workers had previously voted 93.6 per cent in favour of strike action. The company presented a final offer on Sept. 3 but Unifor, representing the union of workers, counter-proposed. Once the union did so, the company halted all negotiations.
The company is demanding a 20 per cent increase in taxi stand fees which is the weekly amount drivers must pay just to pick up the fares. The union says pushing higher fees onto drivers is “unacceptable and unfair” as the industry is already struggling to get by.
“A massive stand fee hike is a direct pay cut for drivers,” Local 1688 President Bahdon Issa said in a press release. “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. We are united in standing up for fairness.”
Drivers will be setting up their picket lines in front of the Blue Line Taxi head office at 455 Coventry Rd.
The strike affects 494 full-time drivers at Blue Line Taxi and has the potential to impact other Ottawa taxi services.
