Taxi drivers’ strikes bring promise of change from industry regulators
Print Edition
REGULATORS are promising changes in China’s taxi industry following strikes by drivers in at least seven major cities over complaints about low pay, high charges imposed by taxi companies and competition from ride-hailing apps.
China News Service yesterday cited experts who said taxi companies, many of them monopolies, were hurting drivers by charging fees of up to 9,000 yuan (US$1,454) a month for the use of a cab. The report appeared on websites of numerous Chinese news outlets.
Xinhua news agency, in a one-sentence report on its microblog, cited the Ministry of Transport as promising a “breakthrough” in creating a “modern transportation industry” but gave no details of possible changes.
Strikes have been reported in major cities including Nanjing and Jinan in the east, Chengdu in the southwest and Shenyang in the northeast.
Drivers cited by media reports also complained about competition from ride-hailing apps such as Uber that are used by private drivers. The Ministry of Transport announced last week that drivers of private cars would be barred from offering services through such apps as a safety measure.
Chinese taxi drivers have protested repeatedly in recent years over conditions in their industry. Most drivers are treated as independent contractors without salary or other benefits. They have no bargaining power with taxi companies that are allowed to set their own rates for what drivers must pay for use of a cab.
“While cab drivers are undoubtedly unhappy about the use of taxi apps, their fundamental grievance is and always has been with the cab companies and the contract system,” said Geoffrey Crothall of China Labor Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based group that researches Chinese labor issues, in a report this week.
After deducting charges to taxi companies, many drivers make less than a factory worker, according to Crothall.
“With earnings so low, drivers understandably get angry when their business is poached by unlicensed cabs that are not subject to same burdensome regulations as they are,” he said.
The People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, warned on January 6 that the rising use of ride-hailing apps would force changes.
“The current monopoly has long been criticized,” the newspaper said. “The large amount of money that must be handed to taxi companies will have to be gradually reduced.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
