{"id":1114,"date":"2008-05-02T18:55:06","date_gmt":"2008-05-02T08:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/?p=1114"},"modified":"2008-05-02T18:55:06","modified_gmt":"2008-05-02T08:55:06","slug":"go-go-melbourne-taxi-drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/?p=1114","title":{"rendered":"Go go Melbourne taxi drivers!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much respect. Best wishes to the poor bastard who got stabbed<\/a>. And three cheers for Jazz Randyman — you rock!<\/p>\n

Melbourne taxi drivers consider further protests<\/a>
\nMaria Bervanakis
\nMelbourne Leader<\/em>
\nMay 2, 2008<\/p>\n

TAXI drivers have warned Wednesday’s snap city blockade could happen again. <\/p>\n

Blockade organiser Mohammed Jama said cab drivers had been neglected for too long and were prepared to further disrupt the city to get what they wanted.<\/p>\n

“From now on, if we are not getting what we want we will fight for our right anytime, any place, anywhere,” he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

About 1000 cabbies blocked the intersection of Flinders and Swanston streets for 22 hours calling for increased safety in taxis.<\/p>\n

The April 29 stabbing of Reservoir taxi driver Jalvinder Singh, 23, in Clifton Hill sparked the protest.<\/p>\n

A 45-year-old Alphington man faces an attempted murder charge.<\/p>\n

The 22-hour protest ended when the State Government gave in to the cabbies’ demands.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, all Melbourne taxis will be fitted with security screens by Christmas and the government will foot half the bill. Also, passengers will be required to pre-pay fares between 10pm and 5am.<\/p>\n

The government also agreed to compensate the injured taxi driver and launch a media campaign to promote the pre-pay system.<\/p>\n

It will also educate drivers on dealing with violent offenders.<\/p>\n

Victorian Taxi Directorate general manager Peter Corcoran said the actions were offered in good faith by Transport Minister Lynne Kosky.<\/p>\n

“The community and this government cannot condone any violence against taxi drivers,” he said at the protest.<\/p>\n

Victoria Police negotiator Inspector Paul Pottage said he was satisfied with the peaceful protest.<\/p>\n

He said fines issued against drivers who parked cabs illegally during the blockade would be waived.<\/p>\n

“This was a concession we made at the meeting (with Ms Kosky),” he said.<\/p>\n

Sony Kumer, 34, left India 13 years ago to live in Melbourne. The father of three from Hoppers Crossing was a cab driver for two years but recently gave it up after he was set upon by passengers.<\/p>\n

He said security screens would go a long way to protecting drivers.<\/p>\n

“I had a lot of problems. I was assaulted by three men, I stopped the cab and ran,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I am looking for a job now but one thing is for sure, I don’t want to drive cabs.”<\/p>\n

Satvirl Khangur, 24, from Reservoir, is a rookie cab driver of two months. He had mixed feelings about the changes.<\/p>\n

“It’s alright, pre-pay is good and security screens, I’m not sure how much safer it will be,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Khangur said he was glad he joined the protest – despite sleeping on the street in freezing temperatures and not eating for 22 hours.<\/p>\n

“I’m with my friends, all my brothers, we all united to take on the government,”<\/strong> he told the Leader<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder and Lord Mayor John So went to the blockade on Wednesday to urge the drivers to move on.<\/p>\n

The Lord Mayor offered to convene a meeting at his office but drivers declined.<\/p>\n

“I’m asking them (the drivers) to get off the street,” the Lord Mayor said before leaving on foot unescorted.<\/p>\n

The cabbies had the support of a large cross-section of the community, with Salvation Army officers handing out cups of water to the protesters.<\/p>\n

Cadet Peter Hobbs said it was unusual for the Salvos to attend a protest but they helped “everyone in need”.<\/p>\n

“These guys have been here a while so we are giving them some water,” he said.<\/p>\n

East Brunswick man Mickie Skelton, 20, brought a red basket of apples and handed them out to the applause of the drivers who vowed to “never charge him” for a cab journey.<\/p>\n

“I’m an anarchist and a unionist and I believe in solidarity,” Mr Skelton said.<\/p>\n

“These guys are here to say that we do not just work in your 7 Elevens, your petrol stations and drive your cabs around. We keep this city going.<\/p>\n

“This is a class issue.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

City workers interviewed by Leader<\/em> were mostly in support of the drivers.<\/p>\n

James Henderson, 26, from Port Melbourne said: “Not enough is being done about the escalating violence.”<\/p>\n

David Matthews, 22, of Port Melbourne said it should never have come to drivers needing to blockade.<\/p>\n

“18 months ago a taxi driver was killed and the government said safety standards would be reviewed and here we are again. There is a need to take action,” he said.<\/p>\n

The protest was largely peaceful until police started to fine the cabs.<\/p>\n

Nishan Singh, 29, from Glenroy copped a $110 fine but refused to move his car.<\/p>\n

Ms Kosky will meet with taxi drivers at noon on May 15 at Flemington Racecourse to disclose further details of the introduction of the security screens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Much respect. Best wishes to the poor bastard who got stabbed. And three cheers for Jazz Randyman — you rock! Melbourne taxi drivers consider further protests Maria Bervanakis Melbourne Leader May 2, 2008 TAXI drivers have warned Wednesday’s snap city … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6AyE-hY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}