Disruption is being caused by the 18-hour strike of taxis in Attica, which began at midnight Sunday into Monday and will conclude at 6:00 PM in the evening. The strike was organized by the Attica Taxi Drivers’ Union (SATA) to ensure mass participation of its members in an extraordinary general assembly of the sector, which will take place at 10 AM on Monday.
Read: Fierce attack by Kyranakis on Lymberopoulou over taxi strike via Parapolitika 90.1 radio (Video)
The drivers are protesting the “downgrading of the Union’s role” and the “uncontrolled entry of major private interests” into the transportation sector.
Taxi strike September 22: SATA’s announcement
SATA’s announcement states:
“We are facing a critical and dangerous turning point for our sector. Indeed, as the president of the Attica Taxi Drivers’ Union (SATA), Thymios Lymberopoulou, characteristically stated yesterday in a press conference: ‘We will not back down. They want to finish us off, to end the free profession of taxi driving and give our work to private companies.’ ‘We will hold new strikes, but not continuously so the sector can endure. However, we will be constantly active with various forms of mobilizations. We won’t let them finish us off, rest assured,’ he said. He also announced an appeal to the Council of State (CoS) aimed at overturning the recent Joint Ministerial Decision of the Tourism and Infrastructure and Transport ministries, ‘which opens the road for urban transportation to private cars with drivers.’ This constitutes, as he said, ‘a direct violation of constitutional provisions and fundamental rules of existing legislation, according to which this specific capability belongs exclusively only to taxis.’
Scenarios of complete deregulation of transportation services are returning more intensely than ever and directly threaten:
- The viability of our profession
- The economic dignity of thousands of families
- The legitimate operation of taxis as a public transportation service
- Kyranakis & Kefalogianni are unconstitutionally undermining through Joint Ministerial Decision the concept of urban transportation as defined by law and European Courts.
- Mandatory electrification – Taxation – Piracy – Theft of Transportation Services – Multinationals are finishing us off.
- The downgrading of our role and the uncontrolled entry of major private interests into transportation services is not a distant scenario – it is already underway with the government’s blessings.
Everyone’s presence is imperative.
If we don’t react now, tomorrow might be too late.
Either us or them.
Everyone to the General Assembly to decide our future. Everyone to the struggle,” it concludes.
