Taxi drivers hold another rally over rental fee hike
Taxi drivers hold another rally over rental fee hike
JAKARTA (JP): Some 300 taxi drivers of the Centris Group
staged a rally on Tuesday at the company's headquarters on Jl.
H.R. Rasuna Said in South Jakarta, renewing their protest over
the firm's plan to increase the drivers' daily rental fee by 25
percent.
Spokesman for the drivers, Rahman M, said he and his
colleagues held the demonstration, the second within a week,
after the company breached an agreement to cancel the proposed
fee increase on March 2, a day after the first rally.
He said the agreement was made in front of the Kebayoran Lama
Police Precinct chief. In exchange, the drivers resumed their
duties.
"But when we came to the taxi pool at Kebayoran Lama to get
back behind the wheel on March 3, the management closed the
station's door and placed a placard on it announcing that they
would proceed with the planned fee hike," Rahman said.
The placard read: "To drivers who wish to work for money and
do not seek enemies, the rental fee remains Rp 115,000 per day
and Rp 110,000 on holidays. Come and state your cooperation with
PT Ratax! We are ready to serve you."
The new rate is Rp 25,000 higher than the old fee.
The drivers have remained on strike since the first rally on
March 1.
Centris Group operates around 1,600 cabs under three names:
Ratax, Kartika and Mercury. The rental fee for Kartika and
Mercury is Rp 100,000 per day while Ratax drivers have to pay Rp
115,000 per day.
"We (drivers) reject the hike because we have been taking on
unfair competition with other taxi firms still using the old
flagfall rate of Rp 2,000. Drivers are also facing an increase in
fuel prices soon," he said.
The government will raise fuel prices by an average 20 percent
next month. The standard premium price is currently Rp 1,150 per
liter.
Rahman said that the taxi drivers only managed to earn Rp
570,000 a month, or a mere Rp 19,000 a day.
Rahman, who has been with the Centris Group for 10 years, said
the company had yet to implement the gubernatorial letter No.
3539/-1.811.33 approving the taxi fare hike dated Nov. 14, 2000,
which obliges the management to discuss the planned increase with
drivers.
"The company's management has never invited drivers to discuss
either its decision to apply the new flagfall of Rp 3,000 or its
decision to increase the daily rental," Rahman said.
Meanwhile, Makmur Ginting of the Indonesian Prosperous Workers
Union (SBSI), who represented the protesters in a meeting with
Centris general manager Suryadi, said the management promised to
open talks with the drivers' representatives within the next two
days.
"Suryadi asked for two days to prepare a negotiation, which is
expected to result in the best solution for the ongoing strike,"
Ginting told The Jakarta Post.
Some protesting drivers were reported to have stopped Centris
cabs passing Jl. H.R Rasuna Said and expel their passengers.
The March 1 rally at City Hall was marked by resentful drivers
hurling stones at their non-striking colleagues and smashing the
windscreens of at least seven cabs after they were stopped in
front of City Hall but refused to join the rally. No injuries
were reported during the incident. (01)