A battle between two factions within the United Taxi Company (UTC) will now see the country’s highest executive body attempt to find a solution to the issue after Tourism Minister Charles Fernandez once again was forced to meet with one of the parties involved.
The chasm between the two sides—one led by Ian Joseph, who claims to be the duly elected President, and the other led by former president Henley Daniel — widened after Daniel said the recent elections were null and void.
Yesterday, more than 30 taxi operators, who previously threatened strike action, held talks with the minister to address issues with the former executive.
“The members would have held elections, and it has not been recognised up until now by the past executive … and coming out of the meeting, the minister advised us that we needed to meet with the Cabinet [on Wednesday] to end this impasse,” Joseph said.
Although both sides have been steadfast in their resolve on the issue, concerns have been raised by both sides on the impact that their fight will have on the tourism industry, especially with SIDS4 only a month away.
“We understand the importance of the airport as a gateway, and tourism is what we depend on and we are not going to cause any confusion at the airport, but the members are now in a militancy mood and the executive that was elected is now having a hard time restraining the members,” Joseph said.
Forty-nine of the 91 members voted in the disputed elections held earlier this month, and last year more than half of the UTC’s members signed a petition to remove the then executive.
“Look, we have to understand that the majority would have spoken, and we are no longer going to accept nobody trying to control the majority,” Joseph added.
Meanwhile, Minister of Tourism Charles Fernandez told our newsroom that the situation could no longer be seen as an internal matter within an organisation and said that his Cabinet colleagues need to understand what is at stake if it is left to fester.
“The problem is that the airport taxis play a very important role for us, and we need to resolve this before we get into SIDS and World Cup Cricket and so on; this is an urgent matter that needs to be resolved.
“As a result of that, I have agreed to take it to the level of the Cabinet to see if we can get the Cabinet to advise on the way forward to ensure that it is resolved, hopefully, amicably,” Fernandez said.