Who: Airport Taxi Service

What: Taxicab drivers, dispatchers and curb supervisors

Where: Edmonton International Airport, Edmonton, Alberta

When: April 2, 2009

How Many Members: 265 new members

Other: Airport Taxi Service drivers, dispatchers and curb supervisors join Teamsters Local 987

After a 13 month struggle, 265 taxicab drivers, dispatchers and curb supervisors voted overwhelmingly in favour of representation by Teamsters Local 987. In a vote of 214 - 42, the employees of Airport Taxi Service, who work exclusively transporting passengers from the Edmonton International Airport to Edmonton and Northern Alberta, sent a resounding message to their employer that they fully support the Teamsters as their bargaining agent.

Certification was confirmed April 2, 2009 after overcoming many obstacles and legal challenges launched by the employer.

“Landmark decisions from the Alberta Labour Relations Board aided our pursuit of certification” observed David Froelich, Secretary Treasurer of Local 987, “when the ALRB first ruled the taxi drivers were “employees” for the purposes of the Labour Code, contrary to ATS’s claim the drivers were owner operators.” The Labour Board also revisited a time-honoured decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, the 1980 Yellow Cab decision, that long hindered the successful organizing of taxi drivers, and ruled that employer control should play a bigger role in determining “employee” status.

The employer then challenged this decision and applied for a judicial review of the ALRB decision. Further hearings at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Edmonton resulted in a further decision upholding the Teamsters’ position and dismissed the employer’s application.

The last hurdle to overcome was the 40% threshold.

“We knew there were about 265 drivers in the group but it surprised us when the employee list, provided by the employer, contained in excess of 400 names”, commented Brother Froelich. “The employer included names of drivers who had not driven taxi cabs in 3 years and also included many drivers who had NEVER driven for ATS.

Local 987 is now in the process of negotiating a first Teamsters Collective Agreement for this ethnically diverse group of new Teamsters.

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