The union representing airport taxi drivers wants rules about trespassing and noise put in place using an August court order to be loosened.

An Aug. 14 injunction placed several restrictions on what airport taxi drivers could gather and do on airport property in what was then the first week of a labour dispute with dispatcher Coventry Connections.

On Tuesday morning, the airport said Unifor wants an Ottawa judge to lift trespassing notices against several of its members, including local union leadership, as well as allow some kinds of "excessive" noise-making activities to resume.

The airport authority said in a news release protesters drumming and banging on fencing had made it more difficult for airport staff to communicate, including security staff.

"The Airport Authority cannot tolerate acts on airport premises that impair its ability to fulfil its regulatory and operational obligations" said Mark Laroche, its president and CEO.

"We will vigorously defend our ability to provide a safe and secure airport for our passengers, employees and the general public".

It said it offered to lift trespass notices and not issue them for people making unamplified noise going forward, but would not allow any drumming — an offer the union rejected in favour of going to court.

Unifor: airport is going too far

Unifor says the airport authority is being "overzealous" and the restrictions violate its freedom of expression.

"The airport has taken a position that we're not allowed to make any noise at the airport through drumming or chanting or use of noisemakers and we believe the judge in his original order was very clear that we're allowed to make noise as long as it's not using amplification devices," said Harry Ghadban, Unifor's eastern Ontario director.

"It's important because we have a constitutional right to convey a message in the way we see fit to show our displeasure with what the airport has done and what Coventry [Connections] has done and we're entitled to convey that information to the public."

Ghadban said their court appearance is scheduled for this afternoon in Ottawa.

A second injunction issued in late September banned airport taxi drivers from blocking or slowing traffic on the Airport Parkway.

The labour dispute over the fees taxi drivers pay for the right to pick people up at the airport began on Aug. 11, 9 weeks ago today.