The Tribune

By Kortney Rodgers

PRESIDENT of the Public Service Drivers Union, Richard Johnson, yesterday renewed the organisation’s request for complete ownership of the country’s taxi industry, claiming the business “is our birthright”.

Mr Johnson and his colleagues have lobbied the government for control of ground transportation for more than a decade and continue to fight for what they feel is rightfully theirs.

“This business is our birthright because we fought for it, and believe me, we will not let anyone take our birthright from us,” he said at a press conference at the House of Labour.

The union addressed a number of issues yesterday, including a Heads of Agreement (HOA) agreed to in principle by the government and the importance of taxi drivers to ground transportation.

Mr Johnson said that the group has not yet received a “letter of comfort” from the government, which would provide reassurance of support. “Given the state of labour, there’s only one other recourse and that is to do what we did in 1958,” Mr Johnson told The Tribune. Then taxi drivers blockaded the airport on its opening day and voted to join a general strike.

“Taxi drivers have always been independent small business men. The political directorate in this country have always resented the small fellow who was independent of him economically.”

David Jones, president of the Taxi Union in Grand Bahama, also supports the initiative, saying “if we follow the Road Traffic Act, everyone will be able to survive; but for some reason we just totally disregard it. I’m wondering now if we are allowing lawlessness to go on in our country.”

According to Mr Jones, tour buses take about 80 per cent of the ground transportation business in Grand Bahama. “You do not get the full Bahamian experience in a tour bus,” he said. He emphasised the importance of taxi drivers, in that tourists are able to have a more personal experience during their visit to the islands while controlling their own schedules.

Over the years, the Bahamas has become dependent on tourism as its main industry and consequently the transportation of guests has become equally important. “Taxi drivers and tourism are indivisible,” said Mr Jones. “Without the taxi driver, you can’t get the guest to the hotel.”

The Heads of Agreement is supposed to establish a minimum value of $100,000 for each of the existing 2,500 taxi franchises, which would make the ground transportation industry worth $250 million. However, the accounting firm Deloitte and Touche (Bahamas) has not examined this figure as yet. The Tribune was unable to reach Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna Martin for comment.