- Nineteen prisoners use cutlery to break out of cells at Winchester prison
- France wants progress in Ukraine before Russia returns to G7
- Italy president begins talks to seek way out of government crisis
- Italian PM expected to resign as political chaos deepens
- Russia says US cruise missile test ‘regrettable’
- Kremlin - No date set for Normandy talks on Ukraine despite Macron meeting
- Egypt court hands out 6 death sentences on terror charges
- Putin says Russian nuclear explosion poses no threat
- Russian panel eyes alleged foreign interference in protests
- Gran Canaria wildfire triggers evacuation of thousands of people
- PM Johnson calls on Germany and France to compromise on Brexit
- Sudan's ex-president Bashir arrives at corruption trial
TEHRAN, July 30 - Spanish taxi drivers blocked major city streets including Barcelona's Gran Via and Madrid's Castellana on Monday in a protest to pressure the government to curb licenses to online ride-hailing services such as Uber.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Union representatives were due to meet officials of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government later in the day to try to resolve the dispute, in which taxi drivers have choked main roads and snarled airports, bus and train stations since Saturday.
Along with counterparts in many other European countries, Spain's taxi drivers say that ride-hailing apps have made it impossible to compete.
"Uber and Cabify are putting the viability of the taxi sector and 130,000 jobs at risk...The union considers this unfair competition intolerable," the UGT union said in a statement.
Union representatives say the current law of one ride-hailing license for every 30 taxi licenses is not being respected and want an end to the practice of transferring ride-hailing permits between drivers.
With backers including Goldman Sachs and BlackRock and valued at more than $70 billion, Uber has faced protests, bans and restrictions around the world as it challenges traditional taxi operators, angering some unions.
London cab drivers are examining the possibility of bringing a class action suit against Uber after the mobile app was granted a temporary license renewal to operate in the British capital.
Source: Reuters
Your Comment