Taxi Drivers Calls For a
National Strike
Between 7.000 and 9.000
taxis will be in San
José on August 6th, no
to provide service, but
to the contrary. The
taxi drivers will meet
in downtown San José and
make their way to Casa
Presidencial in Zapote,
to demonstrate their
frustrations over the
old matter of "piratas"
and "porteadores".
The strike action will
commence at 4:00am, the
time when the night
shift ends and the day
shift begins and will be
felt all over San José
and most of the country.
The announcement was
made yesterday by the
Foro Nacional de
Taxistas during a
general meeting that
ended with the promise
that the taxis will not
go back to work until
they get a satisfactory
answer from the
government.
Gilberth Ureña, a
spokesperson for the
Foro, said that the
number of piratas and
porteadores has
increased and that the
measures taken by the
Policía de Transito has
had no effect.
Days earlier,
representatives of the
Foro, said they met with
Costa Rican president,
Oscar Arias. Ureña said
that the pressure the
president is getting
from the legislative
deputies of the
Movimiento Libertario
(ML) is very strong,
especially for the votes
that the ML represents
to the approval of the
TLC.
"The greatest concern of
the Foro is the pressure
the president is getting
from the Libertarios,
which was evident during
our meeting, which are
capable of extorting
him", said Ureña.
The taxi drivers want
the government to put an
end to the "piratas" -
pirate taxis - and the "porteadores"
who for the most part
operate as piratas.
Porteadores, door to
door taxi service, is
permitted under the
current legislation.
Piratas, who operate
similar to the official
taxis, picking up fares
on the street and
providing services at a
much lower cost to the
taxis, is not.
The Foro says that many
piratas mask themselves
as porteadores and the
Policía de Tránsito
(traffic police) has
been unable to curb the
problem.
"we will not go back
into service until the
President, his
ministers, Aresep and
the deputies, provide us
with a final resolution
the same day", said
Ureña. |
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