Taxis going for all-out strike
The planned 24-hour all-out strike by taxi drivers around the country is set to go ahead on Monday 30th. This is the first protest or strike by taxi drivers to receive wide-ranging support from taxi drivers around the country, SIPTU and the breakaway Taxi Drivers For Change, who have been responsible for most of the protests thus far.
According to irishtaxi.org, “4 a.m. on the 30th of March and will end at 4 a.m. on March 31st”. Looks SIPTU have posted a press release informing the public that there will also be a protest on the morning of April 1st at Dublin airport. In other ‘news’, seems the Nationa Taxi Drivers Union (NTDU) website, www.ntdu.ie, is either undergoing maintenance or even a facelift.
2 Comments
The NTDU website is getting a face lift. forget about the website. change useless o gorman and his invisable vice president.
As a Dublin Taxi Driver for the past five years and I fully agree that the taxi industry in a state of rapid decline. Without harping on it has become increasingly difficult to make ends meat. My monthly commitments are still the same but my ability to be able to earn enough money to meet said commitments has all but vanished.
We have a Taxi regulator who today announced that she fully endorses and supports the Good Body Report into the Taxi Industry. This woman is so out of touch with reality that one has to ask what planet is she living on. She will accept the findings of a report that has no actual basis in fact whatsoever, don’t take my word for it just ask the other 27,000 Taxi Drivers around the country. This is the same woman who tried to deal with this crisis last November by increasing taxi fares against the wishes of taxi drivers. This was done at a time when the country was going into recession, when people were losing their jobs and when taxis had become a luxury that most people could not afford, not only was this an insult to taxi drivers it was also an insult to every person in this country who uses taxis.
In my opinion its not just the Taxi Industry that needs an overhaul its the Taxi Regulators Office itself, It seems to me that she is nothing more than an ignorant government puppet who has outlasted her uselessness.
The Minister for Transport is no better again he won’t listen to the people who actually know what is going on (taxi drivers) so he hides behind the aforementioned Government paid for report.
Do these people not realize how insulting it is to the countries 27,000 taxi drivers to have them come out and say that its all ok because the report we paid for says so, when we who are working all hours and quite often for a lot less that the minimum wage know the opposite is true.
In saying all this I support action whether its marching on Leinster House or the Taxi Regulators Office. But I have to ask what benefit is an all out stoppage when the people who will be most affected are the people we depend on to make a living, the General Pubic.