Competition bill, taxi protest: national strike on November 24th

The taxi protest against the competition bill is triggered. “Unitary demonstrations and to the bitter end against the competition bill”. This is what Uritaxi announces, one of the most representative trade unions in the category of taxi drivers, to protest against the reorganization of non-scheduled urban mobility services included by the Government in the competition bill. The strike was proclaimed for November 24th, with local and national initiatives that will continue until, the trade union initials reaffirm, article 8 of the competition bill will not be withdrawn and the implementing decrees of law 12 of 2019 will not be issued. ” The inclusion in the bill – protests the president of Uritaxi, Claudio Giudici – is against all legal and economic logic, as it would pretend to put a sector that, as administered as a public service, at an administered rate, with an obligation service and shifts imposed, cannot in essence suffer competition from those who are not subject to these rules. Otherwise, in fact, it would be the legislator itself to legalize a phenomenon of unfair competition to the advantage of some and to the disadvantage of taxi drivers “.” Even more serious, because it is capable of undermining any trust in the ruling class, the inclusion in the competition bill also represents the violation of agreements signed in February 2019 by taxi drivers with this Parliament. After accepting a series of costly regulatory changes – continues Giudici – we have been waiting for the relative implementation decrees for three years, which would give substance to the policy pronouncements in favor of legality, against the abusiveness of incorrect operators and multinationals allergic to public rules. Today, by violating our word, not only are we going to trash the agreed commitments, but we would even like to change the rules of the game again. “” It is this lack of institutional loyalty towards a sector that has, among public services, approval ratings which have no equal (between 80% and 90% depending on the city), to hand it over to the speculative voracity of the multinationals, which brought together the workers’ unions with the strike on November 24th. Taxi drivers – concludes the national president of Uritaxi – will not hold back, because they have understood that this time, more than ever, the future of the sector and their families is at stake ”.