Industrial action

Cabbies bring Palma to a halt

Some people arriving at the airport had to wait for taxis. | Miquel À. Cañellas

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma31/07/2018 00:00

Yesterday's taxi strike in Palma, Calvia and Llucmajor left tens of thousands of people stranded, especially at Palma airport where arriving tourists had no idea that only 10 per cent of taxi drivers would be working from 9am to 2pm.

According to taxi associations, the strike was a total success (a 90% take-up, they said) and further industrial action is not being ruled out.

At the airport, tourists were told that the strike would end at 2pm. Long queues formed and waited for the taxi rank to open again. In the meantime, the situation remained calm and there was a heavy police presence should it not have.

The Palma EMT airport bus service had a busy morning as did the TIB buses serving certain resort areas.

Palma taxi drivers also blocked city roads with a go-slow convoy as part of the protest to pressurise the national government into curbing licences for services such as Uber. Taxi driver representatives across the country are not in favour of the government's offer to transfer powers over licensing to regional governments, as they say this will simply extend the problem to seventeen regions rather than fix it.