Taxi drivers stage spontaneous protest at Port of Montreal, emergency meeting called for Sunday

GlobalNews.ca
Sept. 10, 2016
By Annabelle Olivier

Taxi drivers staged a short demonstration Saturday morning by temporarily blocking access to the Port of Montreal.

According to Montreal police, a few taxi cabs converged on Notre-Dame Street, near Pie-IX Boulevard, at 7 a.m., blocking an entrance.

“There were about 20 taxis at the beginning,” Jean-Pierre Brabant, a Montreal police spokesperson said.

It is unclear whether the drivers were refusing to transport fares disembarking from two cruise ships docked at the port or merely blocking access.

Brabant said port security asked the drivers to leave and threatened to call police if they didn’t.

“Security advised them to leave and they did,” Brabant said. “They continued to offer services, just taxi cabs doing their work.”

While there was a police presence at the port until 11: 30 a.m., officers did not intervene.

“It was a very calm situation,” Brabant said. “It was under control.”

The protest comes on the heels of a last-minute deal between Uber and the Quebec government earlier this week.

The Regroupement des travailleurs autonomes Metallos (RTAM), representing about 4,000 taxi and limo drivers in Quebec, referred to the deal as treason saying it would impoverish taxi drivers in the province.

The group is accusing the government of reneging on its promise of not creating a two-tiered system.

Under the terms of the pilot-project, Uber was granted 300 taxi permits which RTAM says is the equivalent of 1,000 new cars on the road. While there are caps on the number of hours Uber drivers are allowed to operate the association wonders how the government plans on enforcing those rules.

An emergency meeting is scheduled for Sunday afternoon where taxi drivers will discuss what comes next. Certain members are talking general strike, while others are calling for work disturbances or an injunction.

RTAM spokesperson Benoit Jugand, said all options were on the table.