[PR] Taxi unions announce 24-hour stoppage

Up to 14,000 drivers to join 24-hour taxi strike this morning
From:ireland.com
Monday, 17th July, 2006

A taxi dispute across the State due to begin today at 5am could see up to 14,000 taxi drivers off the roads for 24 hours in protest at planned changes over charges.

Pickets will be placed at taxi ranks in every county in the voluntary dispute. The pickets will also be placed on the rank at Dublin airport, where 2,000 drivers operate. The unions say they are likely to participate fully as they would be hardest hit by the changes.

At Dublin airport, bus companies are preparing contingency operations to meet the increased demand and hackney drivers will be operating as normal.

The taxi drivers are protesting over a new national taxi fare which comes into force in September. Extra charges for luggage and a €1.50 hiring charge for picking up passengers at Dublin airport will be abolished.

Members of the three main taxi unions: the Irish Taxi Drivers' Federation, the National Taxi Drivers' Union and Siptu, will take part. They claim that taxi regulator Ger Deeling has failed to recognise their concerns about the abolition of charges.

A spokeswoman for Dublin Bus, which has between 15 and 17 dedicated Airlink buses and several suburban bus routes operating between the airport and the city centre, said they were at full capacity.

"It is a case of monitoring it and see how we are," she said.

There would be two Dublin Bus inspectors out at the airport who will be in touch with the depots during the day, she said.

Aircoach, the private coach operator, will be increasing its frequency on the route to and from Dublin city centre to every 10 minutes, instead of 20 minutes, and will increase its capacity from 18 coaches during the day to 28. They will run from 5am.

A Dublin Airport Authority spokeswoman said there was not a problem with car parking as most people were just dropped at the airport by car. She said there were over 800 buses into and out of the airport every day. Extra airport staff would be on the ground directing people and advising them on alternatives to taxis particuarly those coming in as they would not be aware of the strike.

National Taxi Drivers' Union general secretary Tommy Gorman said they had thought there might be a change in the plan on Friday.

"We thought there might be some form of going back to the table, but that didn't happen so it is going ahead," he said.

President of the Irish Taxi Drivers' Federation, John Ussher, said the stoppage was voluntary.

"It's being portrayed as an airport dispute but that's not true as the changes affect taxi drivers in different ways in different parts of the country," he said.

Christy Humphreys, of the Irish Hackney Drivers' Association, said they had 10,000 hackney cab drivers throughout the country and 2,000 in Dublin, including a minority at the airport. "We are not backing the stoppage and our cabs will be fully operational," he said.

Yesterday, Seán Murphy,director of policy of business organisation Chambers Ireland, criticised the stoppage.

"The unions have called this strike over two small elements of what is a very comprehensive restructuring of the entire taxi fares' system which has seen increases in some areas and decreases in others," he said.

The taxi regulator's action plan was the culmination of a process commenced under the Taxi Regulation Act 2003 and involved widespread consultation with all stakeholders, including drivers and unions that began in 2001, he said.

Thousands of taxi drivers strike over new charges
From:ireland.com
Monday, 17th July, 2006


Thousands of taxi drivers across the State have begun a 24-hour work stoppage in protest at planned changes over fares.

Pickets were placed at taxi ranks at 5am in every county in the voluntary dispute. National Taxi Drivers' Union president Tommy Gorman told ireland.com he had been out speaking to members on the picket lines today. He believed approximately 95 per cent of drivers were taking part in the strike action.

"There were always 2,500-3,000 drivers who were not members of any organisation so we cannot control whether or not they work," he said.

"But I think if I saw 40 or 50 cars on the road that would be all."

Mr Gorman acknowledged there would be inconvenience to members of the public.

"We gave a clear indication last Monday that this action was going to take place, so we gave plenty of notice. Obviously there is going to be inconvenience and we do apologise for that."

Mr Gorman said the union will tomorrow examine correspondence received from the Taxi Regulator's office last Friday with a view to opening talks on the controversial areas of the proposed reforms in the industry. However, he believed there was no point in sitting down to talks if there was not "flexibility" on the contentious issues.

The pickets were also placed on the rank at Dublin airport, where 2,000 drivers operate. Unions say they are likely to participate fully as they would be hardest hit by the changes.

At Dublin airport, bus companies have put contingency operations in place to meet the increased demand and hackney drivers will be operating as normal.

The taxi drivers are protesting over a new national taxi fare which comes into force in September. Extra charges for luggage and a €1.50 hiring charge for picking up passengers at Dublin airport will be abolished.

The strike is a joint action by Siptu, the NTDU and the Irish Taxi Drivers' Federation, which between them represent around 14,000 of the 17,000 drivers nationwide. They claim that taxi regulator Ger Deeling has failed to recognise their concerns about the abolition of charges.

The taxi regulator's action plan was the culmination of a process commenced under the Taxi Regulation Act 2003 and involved widespread consultation with all stakeholders, including drivers and unions that began in 2001, he said.

President of the National Taxi Drivers' Union Tommy Gorman said the proposed standardised taxi fare would result in a loss of income for taxi drivers in parts of the country where there was a minimum charge of €6 per day and €6.50 per night.

"Those areas would show a 22pc loss. We can understand putting a national fare structure in place but is it fair to ask people in these nine areas to work at a reduced rate when oil prices are rising all the time," he said on RTÉ's Morning Irelandprogramme. "Now to ask them to work for less in a climate where we're paying more to operate, you can't operate a taxi without fuel." Mr Gorman said he believed about 85 per cent of taxis operating out of Dublin Airport were on strike today.

Some drivers were operating to the airport but were not picking up fares there.

Taxi drivers are objecting to the planned abolition of a 70c charge to customers for a pick-up at the airport and they also reject plans to abolish a charge they currently impose for luggage.

Taxi regulator Ger Deering said what was really happening was a "re-balancing" of fares.

"The minimum charges around the country range from €2.80 to €6 and this would be from one provincial town to another.

"There are 36 different fares around the country. Consumers were saying they were very confused and they couldn't understand this.

"They wanted and drivers wanted less hardship in having to explain the fares to people. So what we're doing is re-balancing fares and it's not as simple as to say that someone will lose 22 per cent.

"For example, if someone is currently on €6, that means there's probably a longer distance included, and what they're actually doing is discouraging taxi use." "My primary concern is the taxi industry and particularly taxi passengers.

"If I allow a situation where any authority, any organisation simply puts on a charge and that charge is automatically passed onto the customers, we could have this charge replicated right across the country at all transport terminals."

"This charge has been agreed between the taxi unions and Dublin Airport. I understand, from Dublin Airport, that there is some flexibility around the charge. But that is a matter between Dublin Airport and the taxi unions."

"What I have to do is ensure that charges can't just simply be imposed on taxi customers." "There will be a taxi service throughout the country. A lot of taxi drivers have contacted us and said they want to provide a service."

A spokeswoman for the Dublin Airport Authority said there were currently no taxis at the rank in the airport and there was a picket at the main entrance.

"We have got a lot of customer service people on the ground and signage to indicate the alternative forms of transport," she said.

"It's mostly passengers coming in to the airport who are not aware of the situation. We understand both Dublin Bus and Aircoach have put in place extra services and the buses will fill up fairly quickly."