I cannot understand how anyone who has been in this industry for a year or more would not identify why the petitions are necessary for us to bring reform to the industry.
Particularly Taxi Companies' Abuse of Power over Drivers.
Given the recent cases of drivers all over the state, Nathan Macauley (Townsville), Del Delaney (Gladstone), David McTaggart (Toowoomba), do we need to prove the need to remove this power? There are others that I will not mention because of current negotiations.
We should not have to look at recent cases. We all know how this power has been abused and we know how it is stifling open discussion about reform in the industry. If we need any more proof of how downtrodden and fearful it has made so many drivers, we only have to consider the astonishing reaction of those who agree with the propositions but will not sign because they are afraid the company might find out.
If this is you, you should realise that if you do not vote for the petitions you are, in effect, voting for everything to stay the same.
After putting the propositions out there, the amount of support we get either proves what we say or that we are inventing or blowing out of proportion the situation. To have any effect we must get the biggest possible demonstration of malcontent in the industry.
There is no reason for anyone to believe that there will be retribution. Drivers have no excuse to sit on the fence. They either want it to change or stay the same.
Time for the fencesitters to get down and vote. The links to the E-Petitions are beside this column and on the CDAQ home page.
Lee
