Two of the three taxi cooperatives in Lanzarote have called a strike throughout Holy Week to demand that the Cabildo of Lanzarote "dialogue" with the sector and state that they feel "hurt" by the situation.
"The Cabildo does things on its own without consulting the sector, without meeting with the representatives, who represent 300 members," says Juan Manuel Pomar, president of the Norte y Sur taxi cooperative, in statements to La Voz.
In this sense, the cooperatives of San Bartolomé and Norte y Sur have called stoppages from Monday to Wednesday, between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. in front of the headquarters of the first island institution, in what they describe as "the first stoppage of this magnitude in Lanzarote."
"It's not that we don't agree with the insularization of the taxi, it's not that we are against it, but we understand that we have to manage it from the three cooperatives," continues Pomar, who insists that it should not be the Cabildo that makes that decision.
From the cooperatives that are demonstrating, they claim that this idea "is unfeasible" and that "there are other ways" to solve the problems with the sector on the island, among the cooperatives themselves. Thus, it attributes the queues at Lanzarote Airport to "specific problems."
In this line, Pomar states that if everything is centralized, there is a risk that "the taxi driver will go where it is more profitable to work."
Regarding the absence of the third taxi cooperative on the island, that of San Marcial de Arrecife, he explains that they have not been able to count on it after the recent death of its president, Lito Guillén, last March. "It's not that there are two cooperatives against another, we are only differentiated by the colors of the uniform, we are all taxi drivers."
"We are the ones who have to decide, we cannot let ourselves be managed by any party or by any government," he concludes.
