Second pedestrian struck at strike picket line, both drivers charged
Posted Mar 4, 2025 05:58:17 AM.
Last Updated Mar 4, 2025 04:27:23 PM.
Police say a second person was struck by a vehicle at the site of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) outside workers’ picket line at the Region of Waterloo International Airport on Tuesday.
The first incident happened just after 7:30 p.m. Monday, at Airport Road and Fountain Street North, the entrance to the airport.
Police said “the pedestrian was part of a planned protest in the area at the time of the incident. The driver of the motor vehicle struck the pedestrian as they were proceeding past the protestors.”
The pedestrian did not report any physical injuries.
“CUPE 1656 members are currently on strike and maintaining a legal picket line at the airport and unfortunately, this results in travellers facing delays which is understandably frustrating. However, there is never an excuse for violence,” a CUPE Local 1656 statement reads. “(We) will continue to maintain a picket line at the airport and ask that travellers facing delays contact Regional Chair Karen Redman and Waterloo Regional Council and urge them to return to negotiations with the original offer they committed to us so that we can end the strike.”
The unidentified driver was charged with dangerous driving.
The second incident happened at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, when members of the Waterloo Regional Police’s Police Liaison Team (PLT) were at the labour dispute area ensuring safety.
Officers said they saw a driver and picketers in a “brief” interaction, where one of the picketers was struck by a vehicle. The driver then left past the strike line at a “high rate of speed.”
The 28-year-old male driver from Dundas was arrested and charged with stunt driving. The picketer was not injured in the interaction.
A picket line with workers from CUPE 1656 began Monday at the airport, and other region work site locations. Picketers had parked their cars across the street from the airport on Fountain.
Regional police had put out messages on social media about how drivers need to be careful around the site of the picket lines.
CUPE 1656 is set to stage a rally outside the Region of Waterloo headquarters building on Frederick Street in Kitchener, at 1:00, Tuesday afternoon.
