Faro’s taxi drivers will be on strike on Tuesday, 8th September in protest at the threat to their income by web-based transport service Uber.
There also will be traffic impeding 'slow drive' protests in Faro, Lisbon and Oporto as the taxi drivers union ANTRAL starts to use industrial action to draw attention to its members’ plight.
The union already has tried to stop Uber by a court action in Lisbon but named Uber Portugal’s parent company in the US in the submission court documents, rather than Uber Portugal, with the inevitable result that the injunction for Uber Inc to cease operating had no affect on the Portuguese business.
"The reason of the protest is to draw attention to the effects of the violation of law, non-compliance with judicial decisions, constituting a crime in this case" is the opinion of the union which complains of the "tolerance of decision-makers" by the government which wants to be seen as modern and go ahead, but does not want to lose taxi drivers’ votes this close to the October 4th election.
The 'slow drive' by taxi drivers in each of the three cities will prelude the usual documents being hand delivered, this time to the president of the Institute for Mobility and to the Justice Minister.
"ANTRAL can not sit at the table, as proposed by the Government, with a company that acts illegally and criminally by refusing to comply with judicial decisions" according to a union spokesman, clearly in no mood for compromise.
In Faro, the drive by will start at the Algarve Stadium and head to the airport, after which the taxi drivers will head into Faro down Calouste Gulbenkian Avenue, past the Hospital roundabout and end up for speeches in Parque de São Francisco.
According to ANTRAL, the Central Court in Lisbon agreed on April 28th to an injunction which prohibited the services provided by Uber in Portugal, a decision that was confirmed by the same court in June but one that has caused legal fine points to be discussed as the injunction was taken out against Uber Inc., a US business.
The Bank of Portugal spotted this error and rightly refused to block Uber Portugal bank accounts and payments as this entity was not Uber Inc. as per the injunction.
The president of ANTRAL accuses Uber of "continuing to work in the same way" that it worked before the court decision - even though the court decision has nothing to do with Uber in Portugal.
This legal silliness continues with the union under pressure to halt the Uber service in Portugal before it takes off and with many customers preferring Uber for its speed of service and price advantage.
