Taxi drivers threaten to paralyze Rome: strike against Uber and the government – The Republic

MILAN – The Italian taxi drivers back on the warpath and promise to block Rome on March 18, when it will strike against the government and Uber. The scheme, now, is repeated identically across Europe from London to Paris who has a taxi license for up barricades against car drivers. In the focus there is always the American company that with its online application – via smartphone or iPad – offers its users a new way of using cars: you only pay by credit card and drivers receive one vote. An operation that taxi drivers have attempted to replicate with myTaxi , but for the time being continue to denounce unfair competition from Uber stressing that their licenses have been paid handsomely and now being written every day.

in Rome they promise to introduce more than ten thousand drivers from all Italian cities to protest “against the deregulation of the sector – explain the national leaders of the taxi drivers’ unions – through the amendments to the law 21/92 (the standard framework of public transport, ed) questioned the Commission of the Senate, which would favor oligopolies and multinationals at the expense of the public service “. The goal is to capture the city, as happened in London where over 8000 Black Cab London paralyzed Whitehall, while in Paris in 1500 cars have blocked access to the airports of Charles de Gaulle and Orly, sparking an urban guerrilla with burning tires and tear gas.

in Italy, however, it has long been calling for a regulation for Uber: the last chance is nuanced in December when the government would have to intervene simultaneously with the approval of the decree milleproroghe, but then on Christmas eve she decided to postpone everything for a year. In January, then, the senator of the Democratic Party, Linda Lanzillotta, has tabled an amendment to the bill competition in which asks to make recording of platforms required (including Uber) and the identification “of requirements and obligations for drivers in order to ensure road safety and the safety of passengers, both with reference to the efficiency of the cars that used the suitability of drivers, including through adequate insurance coverage for the

transport of persons. “An intervention that would served to regulate the service by preventing – also on the basis of the Authority’s reports – to anyone who is simply entitled to drive, but does not have the license, to enroll in the service, and to provide their own car to offer paid passages. Simultaneously, however, the amendment provided for an amendment to the obligations of the car drivers, to cominicare elimination of what requires to return to throw at the end of each race, to have a garage in the municipality which issued the authorization and stop only in those municipalities that have taxi service.

the protests of taxi drivers, however, have been strong enough to push the Democratic Party to make a deep reflection. It is not excluded, in fact, that the government backs. “This is a trial of intentions, the government and the speakers have not yet pronounced. On Uber however, is not expected any intervention” says Senator Salvatore Tomaselli, rapporteur of the Competition Bill, commenting on the strike: “The amendments are part of the free, autonomous initiative of parliamentarians – explains Tomaselli – that can not be questioned nor with preventive strikes with neither accusation unfounded. as soon as the issue is ripe will present our proposals are the result of the comparison also with the associations of the representatives of the taxi drivers. None wants to deregulate or impoverish the sector, the public service provided by taxi drivers is critical. Another thing is to modernize the entire public transport sector non-scheduled with the aim of creating a more efficient market and better services to consumers. “

Topics:

uber

taxi

bill competition

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