Stand up to Pan Am pressure
International events and labour ultimatums go hand in hand. Wherever there’s a summit, Olympics or UN gathering, there’s bound to be a work disruption.
True to form, Toronto’s taxi drivers are warning they might “shut down” the city during the Pan Am Games unless Mayor John Tory and Police Chief Mark Saunders prohibit Uber, the web-based ride-sharing company, from eating into their business. There’s a simple answer to pressure tactics like this: No. In this case, it is the right answer. The iTaxiworkers Association, which is leading the protest, represents about a tenth of Toronto’s cabbies. Its president, Sajid Mughal, is sending mixed signals. “I don’t condone it if any action happens during the Pan Am Games, but I will say that we have been pushed by the mayor and police chief to a level at which we may take action today, tomorrow, next week or the week after because the industry is suffering,” he told reporters at city hall. This group has little chance of organizing an industry-wide work stoppage.
Moreover, its tactics are more likely to alienate than win support from Torontonians who are already frustrated by lane restrictions and road closures. If taxi drivers disrupt traffic further, more than a few stranded travellers will very likely switch to Uber — some permanently.
The smart response is to call the association’s bluff. Its members can’t afford to leave their cabs idle at a time of peak demand. Its leaders won’t be able to convert their grandstanding into concerted action.
What’s also true is that the city, the taxi industry and Uber have to come up with a sensible plan to share Toronto’s streets. As the Star has said before, the best way to proceed is to level the playing field, requiring Uber drivers to meet the same safety, liability and driver competence standards as licensed cabbies.
That’s not what Mughal and his colleagues want. They are demanding that the mayor and police chief shut down their competition by enforcing Section 39.1 of the Highway Traffic Act, which prohibits unauthorized drivers from transporting passengers for compensation.
But according to police spokesman Mark Pugash, that provision applies only to commercial vehicles.
No doubt Uber’s business model — customers summon a ride and pay for it using their smartphone — poses an unwelcome challenge to the traditional taxi industry. Whether cab drivers have lost 40 to 50 per cent of their income, as Mughal maintains, is open to question. Uber argues it is expanding the transportation market rather than replacing old-line taxi services, and caters to clients who would rather use an app than dial a cab company. Outsiders have no way of telling which side is right.
But turning back the clock is not a sustainable solution. Blockades, protests or court injunctions — all of which cab drivers and municipal officials have tried — won’t work either. Tory is right: this dispute needs to be settled through negotiation and regulation. “Strong-arm tactics and veiled threats will not accomplish anything,” he said. “The city needs a modern, efficient and effective ground transportation network.”
This is just the beginning of protest season. On Friday, workers who refuel the jets at Pearson Airport staged a wildcat stoppage, causing dozens of flight delays and cancellations. It will take patience and good humour to ride out these disruptions. But Torontonians already knew that.
Toronto must not give in to taxi drivers’ threat to ‘shut down’ the city during the Pan Am Games