500 cabbies on strike in Wenzhou

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-07-28 16:20

Taxis on strike are seen parking at Huimin Road, Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, shortly after 8:00 am Tuesday, July 28, 2009. [wz.people.com.cn]

Over 500 cab drivers in Wenzhou city, Zhejiang province went on strike for two and a half hours on Tuesday, according to people.com.cn, the website of the People’s Daily. The city has about 3,300 cab drivers serving its 1.4 million residents.

The strike began at 7am Tuesday morning when hundreds of drivers parked their cabs outside an office building of the Wenzhou Administrative and Evaluation Center (WZAE), demanding the government cut the high monthly fees they are required to pay taxi companies for use of the taxis.

“With the hiking of gas prices and high rental fees, we’re just able to make ends meet if we're lucky; if not, we would go hungry,” a driver said.

As a result of the strike, people were now forced to line up and wait for taxies – a stark reversal of the usual situation, where cabbies wait for passengers, people.com.cn reported.

The strike ended at around 9:30 am, when local officials convinced the cabbies to return to work in exchange for promises of future negotiations that will address their concerns.

In the city center, some taxi drivers parked their cars along the road, for fear of retribution if they did not join the strike.

People.com.cm said it will continue to cover the story as it unfolds.

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