Public Transport: General Strike Planned

Employees of the bus industry, truckers, taxi drivers and chauffeurs and help drivers refuse school vans that transport professionals is punished by the penalty point system according to the CFTU spokesman Yusuf Chotoye. The measurement will be to the detriment of workers because the number of 15 points is grossly inadequate for a driver who regularly take the road all day, he said.

He argued that if the driver's license of a driver is removed after the number of points awarded was exhausted, he finds himself under a suspension and stripped of his license for a long time. In addition, if the employee was unable to work for that reason during this period, the employer will be there ready to accept reinstatement or he will resume under new working conditions, asked the spokesman for the front.

He stressed that it would be unfair for a driver who has been employed for several decades in a company can be found in such a situation and is forced to return to his job as a new employee. The union asked the government to review the implications of this new law and the harm it may cause to professional drivers.

Yusuf Chotoye deplores the unilateral decision to apply the penalty points shortly. He believes that we can not introduce such a law with reference to foreign countries because the roads other developed countries are far from being comparable to those that exist here. The condition of our roads is deplorable in some areas.

Raffick Bahadoor, president of Taxi Proprietors Union and a member of the Common Front, said that the front has some misgivings about the penalty points.

He added that several proposals have been made to the government and that it should be open to dialogue. He appreciated that following a recent meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs at Rose-Belle, it wanted to find a working solution.

The CFTU circulated leaflets to inform transportation professionals meeting Thursday in Port Louis.