The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

SCORES of taxicab drivers staged a protest Friday to bring attention to industry challenges they feel have limited their chances of earning fair wages at the Prince George Wharf.

President of the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union (BTU) Philip Watkins told The Tribune that members of his association have been "pushed enough" by the government, whom he claims have refused to discuss longstanding issues.

"These drivers are trying their best to stay within the confines of the law but I don't know how much longer they can run on the same fares that our stipulated and still stay in business," he said.

"The politicians, their pay is never cut, every month their pay is there; even if the treasury is broke they still get paid. We have to go to work to make a dollar and we don't want to be harassed.

"We are our ambassadors, we man the frontlines and we don't want to be harassed when we do what we have to do to take care of the people. We believe in the Stronger Bahamas, we believe in a better way of life, we honestly believe in Bahamians . . . and we believe that we should be first," added Mr Watkins.

According to the union president, he and other senior members of the association have requested meetings with government officials, without success.

"We need the government to meet with us and map the way forward as to how we can get rid of these ills that do exist and how we can make more sense of what we do on a daily basis down here,” he said.

"We want to send a strong message to the government that we have been pushed enough, and enough is enough.”

Frederick Wallace, a member of the Prince George Dock Taxi Drivers Committee, told The Tribune that many of his comrades have now grown "disenchanted" with the government's response to their issues.

"When you do the math, as far as income in this country is concern, on this dock we have approximately 200 taxi drivers and on an average we make around $500 a week; when you multiply that by the year, we bring in over $5 million into this county," he claimed.

Mr Wallace argued that a large percentage of the revenue earned by taxi drivers remains within their local communities.

"It's not like the major stores around here, when they get their revenues they take it to the banks and then they do whatever else they want to do with it, which in some cases means shipping it out the country," he said.

Mr Wallace added that what he and other members of the Prince George Dock Taxi Drivers Committee want from government officials is for them to "try to work with us, (meet us) half-way" he stated.

"All we are looking for is our piece of the pie. I am appealing to the Ministers, please do something to kind of soothe the nerves of the passengers to let them know - its okay if you ride with the taxicab drivers on the ground.”

Another member of that drivers committee, Erika Vickers, stated that despite government claims that crime is under control, the livelihood of drivers is being threatened due to the fears that tourists have of interacting with them.

"Whatever that memo is that the Carnival Cruise line, which is the largest cruise line to come to Nassau is sending out to their guests, I know that the Minister of Tourism did receive that because it was posted in the paper. That memo is frightening the guest," she said.

"When you have five cruise ships in the harbour and thousands of people coming down off the boat and they are walking straight past you because they are afraid for their life, that is a problem. When we don't have them spending any money with drivers or going to Bay Street to spend any money, that is a problem," she added.

Back in 2013 passengers disembarking Carnival Cruise ships in Nassau received letters that warned: "Stay in tourist areas. Don’t leave the ship after dark. Don’t openly display expensive jewelry. Don’t carry large amounts of cash when away from the ship”.

And last December the United States Embassy in Nassau issued its second warning of increased criminal activity in the Bahamas for US citizens preparing to the travel to the islands.

BTU president Mr Watkins added: "As of the first of July, all of our insurances – house, vehicles – goes up by 7.5 per cent. Fuel has gone up. We haven't had an increase since 2008. (Drivers) are struggling even with these issues being normal, they are struggling because of the downturn in this economy; so now they are struggling even more.”