Taxi drivers will proceed with a warning 48-hour strike on November 5 and 6, as announced yesterday (30/10) on Parapolitika 90.1 by the president of the Attica Taxi Drivers’ Union, Thymios Lymberopoylos.
The strike will begin at 06:00 on Wednesday (5/11) and will last until 06:00 on Friday (7/11). As Thymios Lymberopoylos characteristically stated, the government’s policy to dissolve professional taxi drivers in favor of multinational companies and private vehicles is the main issue, while when asked about strike-breaking mechanisms he replied that the sector always complies.
New taxi strike on November 5 & 6: What Thymios Lymberopoylos said on Parapolitika 90.1
Thymios Lymberopoylos emphasized that SATA “breaks the silence“, arguing that the sector faces systematic pressure for the benefit of multinationals and corporate vehicle fleets. He stressed that these companies seek to exploit a service that, as he mentioned, constitutes a social good, resulting in threats to the sustainability of professional taxi drivers. The union president characterized the strike as “warning“, noting that the mobilizations constitute the beginning of a broader effort. “We have authorization from the General Assembly to take the fight to the end, if necessary“, he emphasized, while simultaneously appealing to the government to conduct immediate and substantial dialogue with the sector’s official representation and not with “side groups“.
Mr. Lymberopoylos spoke of “political interventions“, noting that it is inconceivable to ask the union to permit or discourage the inclusion of professional taxi drivers in multinational platforms that, as he said, “do not apply the existing legal framework and maintain tax records abroad“. He characterized this stance as a “deviation from democratic procedures“. Regarding the possibility of strike-breaking mechanisms, the SATA president appeared confident that the sector will move united, emphasizing: “Professional taxi drivers always comply – there are no strike-breakers“.
Full interview of Lymberopoylos on Parapolitika 90.1
Regarding the sector’s strike mobilization on November 5 and 6, Thymios Lymberopoylos said: “SATA breaks the union silence that the Mitsotakis group created in the sector, which aims to lull it to sleep and calm it while destroying the sector daily in favor of multinationals and private vehicles. Multinationals and large company vehicles came to our country wanting to exploit this social service for their benefit, dissolving the professional taxi driver. This will not pass”.
He added: “Our strike is a warning, we are starting fights. The authorization from the general assembly is to take it to the end, whatever is needed. An appeal to the government, to sit down and discuss with the union, not to talk with the union’s opposition that it controls, to sit down and discuss with the union and clarify what it wants. There is political intervention asking a union body if the union prevents taxi drivers from signing up to multinationals that steal from Greek society, in the sense that there is a law and they don’t apply it, and to have their tax registry abroad. This is called derailment of democracy and Mitsotakis does this directly with Kyranakis”.
Concluding and asked if he fears there will be strike-breaking mechanisms, Thymios Lymberopoylos said: “The sector always complies. The sector has no strike-breakers”.
The SATA announcement – What they denounce
In its announcement, the Attica Taxi Drivers’ Union (SATA) points out that “the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, under the political responsibility of Transport Minister Mr. Kyranakis and Tourism Minister Ms. Kefalogiannis, implements policies that severely harm the taxi sector, a basic pillar of urban and tourist transportation in our country“.
The drivers state that these policies not only ignore the professional needs and just demands of taxi owners and drivers, “but serve logics that lead to market disorganization, undermining professional sustainability and degrading service quality for citizens and visitors. The supposed development of the tourism sector cannot be based on measures that marginalize and weaken the taxi sector“.
They denounce the sector’s Federation for “absolute silence and coordinated omertà“, speaking of “secret agreements, against the destructive policy that exhausts the sector“. SATA notes that it continues to demand substantial dialogue with the government and the adoption of measures that will ensure dignity, sustainability and development for taxi drivers.
The demands
The sector’s demands are:
- Immediate decision to extend the mandatory registration of purely electric taxi vehicles from 1-1-2026. This obligation should be postponed horizontally until 2035.
- Kyranakis – Kefalogiannis Joint Ministerial Decision: Immediate withdrawal of JMD 134328/20-8-2025 (Government Gazette ‘B 4564).
- Tax issues: Fair taxation based on books and records – Tax-free threshold at 12,000 euros
- Bus lanes: Free passage of loaded taxis in Special Traffic Lanes without separations
- Piracy – Transport Work Theft – Multinationals:
- Defense of law 4530/2018 that separates taxi transport work compared to rental vehicles with driver and correction where required
- Proper implementation of the digital platform for rental car contracts and creation of a registry for rental cars with driver.
- The minimum charge for using rental vehicles with driver should be set at 150 euros for the whole country and the minimum rental should be three hours for the entire Greek territory.
