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Anti-Uber Taxi Protest Blocks Access To Airports In France
An anonymous reader writes: Taxi drivers in France have been complaining that a recently passed law against unlicensed commercial drivers is being flouted by Uber, and going relatively unenforced by authorities. They claim to have lost 30% of their income to Uber over the past two years, and they've become fed-up with the situation. The taxi drivers have now started an indefinite, nation-wide strike in protest. Part of that strike involves blocking access to Paris's Roissy airport as well as the main road encircling the city. Protesters have also blocked access to train stations in Merseille and Aix. "The drivers — who have to pay thousands of euros for a license — say they are being unfairly undercut by Uber, which is not licensed by the authorities. Prosecutors have cracked down on Uber, filing almost 500 legal cases involving complaints about UberPOP. About 100 attacks on Uber drivers and passengers have been reported in recent weeks."
Uber is taking away our right to treat customers like shit! Now these Uber drivers with their fancy daily bathing practices, non-arrogant attitudes, and actual fair pricing are taking wine from our baby's mouths! WE WANT OUR MONOPOLY BACK!!!
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
You call for a ride, and arrest/fine the driver when her or she arrives. It's not like they're hiding out in the mountains of Afghanistan.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
What's illegal about protesting illegal government actions? Uber is ILLEGAL in France but they continue to operate! Do you understand the concept of "protest"? The idle rich like you are SUPPOSED to be inconvenienced, it is the INTENTION that you get annoyed.
Technically, they should already have 'a monopoly'. They're putting up these blocks because the government is unwilling or unable to actually enforce previously existing laws OR the new law that was passed back in October 2014.
And since governments don't take too kindly to protests against its own institution (you may protest.. you know, somewhere out in a field where nobody's bothered by it, sees it, and you accomplish nothing - there's a good little citizen), they've taken to these measures.
Whether that will result in the law getting enforced, or ferrying people about is turned into a free for all (in which case the 'official' taxi drivers should not have to get a license and pay for that either), for the time being they have every right to be upset; not so much at Uber, but certainly at the French government.
Though if you think this is bad - keep an eye on Calais and the French government's unwillingness to deal with that clusterfuck.
However, you don't get to stop others from getting where they're going. That's what a gang does.
Martin Luther King:
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”
What is illegal is attacking Uber drivers and damaging (in some cases burning) their vehicles. Do YOU understand THAT?
The cabbies themselves already did a great job in making me want to avoid taxis (in the Netherlands). Refusing short rides, overcharging, and if you argue with them they'll put you out of their vehicle on the highway (if you're lucky) or just stab you (if you're unlucky). Sure, Uber should stick to the law, but I am hoping that we'll see a legal "2nd class" tier of cabs, like the Private Hire scheme they have over in the UK. Uberpop should fit nicely into that. I've had a few very good experiences with the service until they clamped down on it.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
However, once you start interfering with other people's lives (who aren't involved in this at all), I view that as unacceptable and utterly puerile.
Martin Luther King:
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”
#1: The taxi drivers are not being persecuted by society.
#2: Martin Luther King Jr.'s cause is one that I believe is great enough to allow stuff like that, even though I don't agree with the way he did his protests. While I am neutral in this debate, the taxi drivers are not pursuing freedom to live or anything like that, but their jobs. If it was revealed that there were terrible conditions in the market of Estonian basket weaving, and they decided to march in front of your house and barricade your driveway, I highly doubt you'd have any sympathy.
#3: Please at least come up with something new to say as opposed to just copy-placing the same block of text multiple times on this story. It makes you look like a troll.
"Set a man a fire, he'll be warm for the rest of the night. Set a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
Let's see... How about blocking the roadways? Very illegal. Even worse are the violent assaults.
And, unlike Uber's own illegality, the blockings and assaults are malum in se whereas Uber is guilty of merely malum prohibitum.
Welcome to Bill Maher show. Save your class warfare rhethoric until 2017, for the centennial celebrations of the Great October Socialist Revolution.
The "idle rich" don't care, whether a ride costs €20 or €40. It is the rest of us, for whom such trifle sums matter.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
No, Uber's model is to bring in real competition to a service industry that has rested easily on a state-imposed monopoly for WAY too long.
if that were ACTUALLY true then they would be working WITH governments to improve competition instead of blatantly breaking existing laws and feigning ignorance.
Silly silly you, their model is to make as much money as possible for the stakeholders while not caring about anyone else. They really don't care if their drivers are ruined financially if they get in an accident. They don't care if their passengers are robbed or raped. They are a corporation, they are not allowed to care about these things.
This dedication to direct action explains why MLK supported lynching white people back. You need to be more devoted to justice than order. Now it's payback time.
I would still use uber. I'd probably be willing to pay double the price they charge now, if it meant I didn't have to deal with actual taxis. I like the convenience of knowing how much my ride will cost beforehand. I like the payment to be something that I don't need to personally give the driver. I like having a person that is nice to talk to.
Even with the surge pricing, the difference is between paying a higher price for uber and not being able to get a regular cab, despite possibly being willing to pay a higher price.
I don't need a taxi very often, but my few experiences with uber were way better than every experience I have ever had rding in a traditional taxi.
dimwit, how else will people pay attention? inconveniencing the idle rich IS THE WHOLE POINT of non-violent protesting.
"Non-violent protest" doesn't include flipping cars, burning tires, beating up drivers, and blocking emergency vehicles,
As for "the whole point" - Yeah, look how well shutting down critical infrastructure worked for PATCO.
I feel sympathetic toward cabbies, I really do - Their industry basically died overnight because someone came up with an alternative that makes them irrelevant. All the world's protectionist systems of placards and medallions and special licensing, "poof", suddenly worthless.
Finding new lines of work sucks, no doubt. But when you manufacture buggy-whips, you implicitly depend on the continued use of horse-based transportation to make your living. Similarly, when you deliver low quality rudely-delivered service at a high price and with upcharges for the top 90% of destinations - You implicitly depend on a complete lack of any viable alternatives.
Uber is a company which provides an app and additional technology using cheapest labor (average driver) on the back of cheap labor (taxi drivers) to generate lots of money for those who already have enough. Therefore, do not use Uber. Do not support Uber. Instead support the protest.