By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

THE government is “favouring the livery drivers”, according to the Bahamas Taxicab Union (BTCU) - after a statement by the Ministry of Energy and Transport that it has sought legal advice from the Office of the Attorney General.

With the BTCU claiming livery drivers are soliciting and operating illegally, the government said it has “formally sought guidance from the Office of the Attorney General on existing legislation as outlined in the Road Traffic Act and the practical impact for all affected groups”.

“While the Ministry of Energy and Transport will proceed in accordance with this legal advice, our steadfast commitment remains to supporting a regulatory framework that is equitable, modern, and aligned with the realities of today’s transportation sector,” the statement read.

BTCU president Tyrone Butler said the government is set on finding a way around the law to allow for livery drivers “to continue to operate on the airport”.

“We see no good option,” Mr Butler added. “We have no good option. The minister and the government is hellbent on trying to find a way to allow livery drivers to continue to operate on the airport even when the law doesn’t permit them. And they have said that on many occasions. That is their position. So we now have to take our position.

“At the end of the day, this minister, I don’t think, is being fair to the Taxicab Union. She talks and promise a lot of stuff, but we see no good option, and so we will be meeting with Mr Ferguson in the next day or so to plan our next strategy, because I don’t see how we get by not taking any action because the government has staked out its position on the livery altar. And so that’s where they want to be. And so we’ll meet them where they need to be.”

Mr Butler added that despite the ministry’s claim that they have had discussions and meetings with both the BTCU and the Bahamas Livery Drivers Union (BLDU) jointly and separately, he recalls the last meeting occurring in April. He said Transport Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis was not in attendance and he found that it did not benefit him and his members. The meeting, according to Mr Butler, was facilitated by the Bahamas National Alliance of Trade Unions Congress (BNATUC). BTCU has recently severed ties with the BNATUC, of which the BLDU is also a part, and joined the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in hopes of finding a solution.  

The Ministry of Energy and Transport in its statement also noted that the rivalry between both unions is the result of “differences over the interpretation and application of the Road Traffic Act” and their goal is to “work toward solutions that balance the interests of all parties”.

“As a result of these meetings, some concrete actions that have been taken include the reorganization and increase in the road traffic supervisors at Lynden Pindling International Airport to monitor taxi and livery drivers, erection of transportation signage, and the expansion of taxi holding spaces at both terminals,” the statement said.

Mr Butler questioned when these changes came about as he hadn’t noticed a difference.

“Did it happen last night?” he said. “Unless it happened last night I don’t know when that happen. I don’t know what she’s referring to, but I couldn’t say, and I’ve seen no evidence of that. We’ve asked for it, we’ve demanded. They’ve been promising us for the last month and a half, ‘We’re hiring new officers. The budget was approved in July. We just finally got the budget. We hired some new people.’ The sloppiness and the mess at the airport continues to this day.

“Our issue is that the minister was not in that meeting. She had representatives there, and that was a meeting that really was just a waste of time, in my opinion, because nothing good came out of it for us, and at the same time for the minister to be playing around with words, about they have forwarded on to the Attorney General for advice, unless these lawyers have now found a different way to read the law, nothing has changed with regards to how livery drivers, a livery franchise should operate. And so, yeah, they can play around with words, but we’re going to play around on the streets. That’s what I think we’re going to do. So this buying of time, meeting with the livery drivers, we understand and we are convinced that the government is favouring the livery drivers, and so now we have to take our fight to where it needs to go.”