Taxi drivers and officials at stalemate over new rule

China Daily, January 13, 2011

Local authorities in Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan province, have denied media reports that they dispatched thousands of police officers to break a strike by the city's taxi drivers.

This undated photo shows taxi drivers in Zhengzhou, Henan province, driving with no passengers in protest at being made to work seven days a week.

The drivers had staged a two-day strike to protest against a new government policy that requires them to work seven days a week, Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

Nearly half of 10,607 licensed taxi drivers took part in the strike, which began on Monday, by refusing to take passengers, the report said.

Several taxi drivers told China Daily that the strike ended on Wednesday.

Li Guiling, deputy director of the publicity department of the city's Party committee, denied that the authorities sent out police officers to monitor the striking drivers in a telephone interview with China Daily but refused to give more details.

The city government introduced a regulation on Jan 1 stipulating that local taxi drivers operate seven days a week. This rule overthrew an earlier regulation that taxi drivers could have one day off a week, thus grounding more than 1,500 taxis a day.

The authorities had expected the controversial move would ensure there were more taxis on the city's streets to ease commuters' difficulties in finding taxis.