SIPTU’s 1,400 taxi drivers will withdraw their services for a 12-hour period from midnight tonight on the first anniversary of the deregulation of the taxi industry.
This time last year the introduction of deregulation sparked a bitter and acrimonious series of blockades and protests by taxi drivers as they fought to challenge the Government’s decision.
At that time, according to SIPTU’s Larry Kelly, there were just over 2,700 taxis in the State compared to around 7,000 today.
Some taxi drivers had paid over $50,000 for one of the limited and tightly controlled licences before deregulation, believing the licence was an asset. Some drivers even regarded its future sale or rental as part of their pension.
For some it turned into a liability when they were left with remortgaged houses or large bank debts and a piece of paper that overnight had dropped threefold or more in value.
Mr Kelly said it was in support of such people that tomorrow’s protest was being held. SIPTU claims that £319 million in personal assets have been wiped out since de-regulation.
But the National Taxi Drivers Union and Taxi Drivers Federation have described the stoppage as unproductive and will not be taking part.
Both unions are still critical of the deregulated environment but claim any stoppage would be counter-productive to ongoing talks with the Taoiseach over compensation for drivers who lost out.
Mr Kelly said he had no knowledge of any talks and would dearly love to see any evidence of them.