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WHY WE’RE ON STRIKE: TAXI DRIVERS

PROTESTS

French taxi drivers: We want égalité and deserve solidarité

Thousands of French taxi drivers staged protests on Tuesday claiming their livelihoods are being threatened. Many told The Local that all they want are laws to be enforced and that the public should back their fight.

French taxi drivers: We want égalité and deserve solidarité

Taxi drivers were at it again on Tuesday.

Roads were blocked, tyres were burned, the windows of Uber cars were smashed and all in the name of a protest to defend their industry.

While sympathy from the public has all but run out, taxi drivers insist they have a cause that the public should back.

The Local spoke to numerous drivers amassed at Porte Maillot on the western edge of Paris to hear their case. 

Their overall complaint was that the industry is fundamentally unfair, claiming VTCs or private hire cabs and web platforms like Uber are subject to far fewer regulations and costs.

They blame the 20 to 30 percent drop in revenue on the fact that VTC companies and Uber do not have to abide by the same rules.

What makes matters worse for them is that a 2014 law aimed to tighten the regulations on firms like Uber and other private hire firms is not being implemented.

“We have lost 40 percent of our business from this illegal activity,” taxi driver Fathe Benmansoer tells The Local.

“The current laws are sufficient if they're respected. But the government does nothing to make the VTCs adhere to them.

“They have become taxis without paying for licenses.

“There can be taxis and there can be VTCs, they can co-habitate, if the laws are applied. All taxi drivers believe the VTCs have the right to exist, if they respect the laws.”

Those laws include a ban on VTCs cruising the streets looking for clients, which only taxis are permitted to do. The new rules also banned VTCs from turning up at airports and train stations in the hope of picking up clients. They are supposed to be pre-booked.

They are also banned from using certain taxi lanes.

But the fact these laws are not being forced – even the man who came up with them says the government lack the will to do it – is driving taxi drivers round the bend.

“These companies like Uber are taxis but without the same rules. These VTCs are like hidden taxis that don't respect the laws,” said one driver.

One driver called Jjamel said: “How can you explain that there are taxi drivers in debt of €200,000, and there are others who can do it without paying?

“All we ask for is application of the laws. You go over to Charles de Gaulle and there are no parking spots for us. They're all there with their smartphones waiting.

“It's not complicated. There are laws in place but they are not enforced.”

Some suggest the blame should be placed at the influence of a North American way of doing business.

“This is a problem that touches many domains. We have be the same problem with Airbnb. The American startups come in and they don't pay and they don't follow the rules,” said Yassine.

“Taxis are part of the French heritage. There's the American companies that pay no taxes, no charges, nothing,” said Julien.

And all this means taxi drivers are fighting to make a living.

“We're here because we're not happy,” a driver named Zacouzac told The Local. “Because we bought licenses and paid charges, paid more than €3,000 for everything, and yet I can't keep my head above the water.

“The VTCs need to go or need to pay the same charges. I'm three, four, months behind with what I owe. Taxi drivers, we start a career by paying €3,000 or more and they, they get a GPS and a suit and voila.

“What we propose to the government is that the state writes us a cheque with what we invested with interest, and then I’ll be happy”.

“The public should back us”

While many may accept the taxi drivers have legitimate complaints, sympathy among the public is almost non-existent, much to the frustration of the drivers.

They believe the public should get behind them, because they are acting in the interests of France.

A union leader speaking over a megaphone at Porte Maillot called for more sympathy for their cause.

“We are people who respect the laws. We are not Isis. This is not Syria, it's not Iraq. This is Porte Maillot and this is France,” he said.

“I remember clearly the days of the attacks. The taxis carried people for free. And Uber? Uber multiplied its tariffs,” he claimed.

“The public has a bad image of us and I don't know why,” added a driver named Rouchde.

“The whole week we work normally and it's Friday and Saturday night that we work the most. On these nights when the bars close people want to raise their hands and have a taxi immediately.

“They say there aren't enough taxis. We'll come Monday Tuesday Wednesday, not just the weekends.

Another driver named Stephane said: “The public takes taxis, so it's in the interest of everyone. We're all fighting the same battle.”

A driver named Julien said: “It's for the good of the country and of the state. These businesses invest nothing  in France. It's the future of the country at stake.”

By Katie Warren

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of 420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of 2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some 200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of 2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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