No sympathy for strikers

A transport group in Cebu is expected to join a nationwide strike today in protest against a supposed plan of the government to phase out jeepneys 15 years old or over. Regardless of the reason, those who join the strike cannot expect the government to budge, and the riding public to sympathize with their cause. Sympathy, like respect, is earned. And it is just difficult to sympathize with a sector that is characterized mostly as being arrogant, abusive, and transgressive.

Whenever government comes up with a new policy, the public transport sector is quick to protest, almost even before the new policy has been properly aired and in turn properly understood. It is almost automatic, these protests, as are the automatic reasons for protesting — it will cut into incomes, trigger higher expenses, etc., etc. There is almost nothing that is not opposed.

And yet, for all its opposing, the transport sector is not exactly a paragon of moral uprightness nor a possessor of admirable virtue. In the daily interaction of society's numerous participants and stakeholders, the transport sector is way up there in disregarding rules, norms and common sense. How can a jeepney driver gain sympathy for a supposed hurt when, given a free rein, he disregards traffic and safety rules left and right and is not averse to cheating or scolding his passengers?

The truth is, if only a better and quicker replacement for jeepneys can be found, the riding public would waste no time dropping jeepneys as a primary means of moving around. Except perhaps for family and friends, the overwhelming number of commuters couldn't care less how government policies would affect the jeepney drivers' lives. Concern, after all, is not a oneway street, that is if public transport drivers still remember what one-way means.

A jeepney driver who does not turn on his headlights at night, who stops anywhere and whenever he feels like stopping, turns without signalling, slows down and actually stops at green to pick up passengers, often more than the allowed seating capacity and scolds passengers for not sitting properly when sitting properly is no longer possible — such a person cannot be given and does not deserve any sympathy.

Jeepney drivers would have had the moral leg to stand on if they have not been any of the above and more. And it would have been easier for the riding public to sympathize with them. But you see, even while already striking, drivers still cannot put a stop to their duplicity. They do not strike immediately. They first take in passengers, both to earn a little, and then to set them up for the kill later when they stop and vanish. How can anyone sympathize with that?