Brussels, (Brussels Morning)- Several European taxi federations want to gather at the North Station for a march to the European quarter. They are asking politicians to do more with the findings of the ‘Uber Files’ , a series of revelations that show how Uber has manipulated national laws in implementing the platform, says BRUZZ.
The demonstration is scheduled for September 8 at 10 a.m. in Brussels. The procession wants to meet at the North Station on the Albert II-laan and then to the European quarter. The protesters have filed a complaint with the police. He is still studying the application.
“With the demonstration, we demand that light be shed on the UberFiles scandal,” said Abdel Sabbani, president of the BTF (Fédération des Taxis Bruxellois). The BTF counts on the presence of French, Spanish, Italian, Swiss, British, German, South American and Greek unions.
As a reminder, in July , Le Soir and other media in Europe drew attention to the ‘dubious’ methods the company used when it arrived in Europe: think of far-reaching lobbying techniques and the delivery of legal texts that are sometimes copied in full. Two politicians were also highlighted in Brussels because of their close contacts with the Californian company: Pascal Smet (Vooruit), then Minister of Mobility, and Boris Dilliès (MR), then regional representative and chairman of the Mobility Committee.
“The sector is united. Taxi drivers represent the income of five million families in Europe. What happened in Brussels has also happened in other European cities and countries. We have been robbed for years, forced to our knees: we demand justice,” says Sam Bouchal , spokesperson for the BTF. Bouchal also opposes ‘Uberisation’ in a broader sense, a form of economy where users and providers meet directly via a digital platform such as the Uber app.
After the hotel sector (Airbnb, Booking.com) and the transport sector (BlaBlaCar, Uber), more and more sectors are being affected by peer-to-peer services, which escape many employment laws because there is no employer involved. “Uberization is spreading. Taxis have only been the laboratory, the guinea pigs of uberization,” Bouchal said.