Talk fails to resolve weeklong taxi strike

(TibetanReview.net, Aug01, 2009) While the taxi drivers in Wenzhou City went on strike on Jul 28 to protest the unfairness of their existing situation, hundreds of taxi drivers in northeast China's Mudanjiang City on Jul 30 continued to stage sit-ins before local Party and government office buildings in protest over the local government's plan to reform the current taxi operating system, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Jul 30. The Mudanjiang strike was reported to have had begun on Jul 23.

City government had to mobilize taxi drivers from neighboring cities to offer taxi services and help alleviate traffic pressure caused by the strike of local taxi drivers, the report added.

The tourist city in Heilongjiang Province, bordering Russia, has 2.8 million permanent residents and 2,705 privqat3ely run taxis.

The report said that under the new draft rules, taxis bought before Jul 20 this year could be awarded another eight years of operating term each after the current eight-year usage span of the taxis expires. But Taxis bought after July 20 or remaining in unchanged hands will only be awarded eight years of operating rights each.

Mayor Zhang Jingchuan was reported to have held dialogues with some of the drivers in order to bring them back to work, but without success.