OPINION:Taxi drivers are angry. One of them explains the reasons why
THE RECENT Goodbody report into the state of the taxi industry, which flew in the face of taxi drivers’ demands for a moratorium on the issuing of any new licences and a ban on part-time drivers, has further angered taxi drivers already furious about the chaotic state of the industry.
Goodbody’s claim that taxi drivers’ earnings have only marginally reduced since 2005 is so ludicrous as to be almost unbelievable.
Since deregulation in 2000 the number of taxis looking for work has increased so substantially that Ireland now has more taxis per head of population than almost any other state in the western world.
The reality is that because of the huge increase in taxi numbers, drivers have seen a decrease of upwards of 40 per cent in their weekly takings over the past three or four years, while at the same time having to work increasingly long hours. Some 70 to 90 hours per week is now the average working week for full-time drivers, which begs the question of how safe they are behind the wheel of a car after such horrendously long shifts?
With further new licences being issued on a daily basis, and with a distinct possibility that many newly redundant workers in the new depression-stricken Ireland will increasingly look to purchase a taxi licence as a means to earn a living for themselves and their families, the current dreadful situation can only get worse.
These potential new entrants will make it even harder for current drivers to earn even breadline wages, and it is disingenuous of Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey and Taxi Regulator Kathleen Doyle to allow workers to spend their redundancy payments to buy into an industry where they have no chance of recouping their large initial outlay, never mind earn a decent income.
This blatant disregard for the welfare of workers in an industry that employs upwards of 30,000 people in the 26 counties is nothing new for the current Fianna Fáil Government, with successive transport ministers showing nothing but contempt for the taxi drivers’ representative bodies and their genuine concerns.
The advent of the office of the Taxi Regulator in 2004 was an opportunity for many of the taxi drivers’ concerns to be addressed, but instead the current regulator, Kathleen Doyle, and her predecessor Ger Deering, seem to have concerned themselves with championing the cause of the consumer, while at the same time introducing petty new legislation, like the new compulsory fire extinguishers and first aid kits that must now be carried in all taxis.
That the majority of taxi drivers aren’t trained in first aid and that the Dublin Fire Brigade advises that the best thing to do in the case of a car fire is to abandon the vehicle immediately seems to have escaped their attention!
It has to be said however that the various taxi unions and representative bodies have not shown great leadership and since deregulation have often been guilty of merely scoring points against each other rather than taking the fight for better working conditions for their members to the Government and the Taxi Regulator.
This underachievement on the part of the various taxi organisations has given rise to a new grassroots pressure group called “Taxi Drivers For Change”, which over recent months has been drawing massive cross union support in different regions for their street protests.
One of the founder members of the new pressure group, Jim Waldron, said in a recent interview that in light of the unfavourable Goodbody Report the group would not only continue with its campaign of weekly protests but would increase both their frequency and intensity.
Gerry Brennan, assistant branch organiser of Siptu’s taxi drivers branch, has also said that Siptu intends to continue and intensify its ongoing protests at Dublin airport.
So the general public can look forward to even more traffic chaos and disruption in the coming weeks as the taxi drivers drive into the city in convoy.
What is required now is immediate Government action to ensure that the future of the taxi industry, a vital part of the national transport infrastructure, is safeguarded, and for an immediate moratorium on the issuing of new licences to support workers in the industry who are suffering so badly.
Some method must also be found to ensure that people driving a taxi are not in other full-time employment, if for no reason other than the safety of their passengers.
Nothing is surer that until their genuine concerns are addressed the taxi drivers of Ireland will continue to mount public street protests on a weekly basis.
Ken Johnstone drives a taxi in Dublin and is also a freelance journalist