The Tenerife Taxi Guild is once again challenging the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council in court. They have recently filed an administrative dispute against the 2024 work schedule set by the Council, which requires taxi drivers to be on standby at 80% during weekdays and 50% during weekends.
Zebenzui Pérez, the president of the taxi drivers association, stated, “We are demanding the immediate cancellation of this year’s calendar and are awaiting interim measures. If the judge rules in our favor, not only will the calendar be suspended, but we will also seek compensation from the City Council for every day we were unable to work this year.”
The Guild plans to pursue financial damages from the City Council for the mandated stoppages in October, November, and December 2021, when the Council enforced a 50% shift schedule, resulting in a noticeable lack of taxi services across the city.
Lawsuit
Pérez highlighted that this legal action against the City Council is in line with a recent ruling by the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC), which sided with the Taxi Guild in 2021 over another dispute concerning sector regulations.
“In 2023, the court ruled in our favour, following a similar lawsuit filed by Las Palmas taxi drivers in 2020. Despite the Council’s and Élite Taxi’s appeals, the TSJC recently upheld the annulment of the 2021 decree that enforced the 50% work stoppage. This ruling allows the sector to claim damages for the three months when we were restricted to 50% operations,” stated the association’s president.
Moreover, he clarified that “according to the recent ruling, the work calendar for taxi drivers cannot be unilaterally approved by the Mayor or the responsible councillor; instead, it must be ratified by the municipal plenary session.” He added that “even though the Councilor for Mobility, Evelyn Alonso, intended to present the 2024 work schedule at the plenary session next Monday, the municipal legal services have postponed it due to the new administrative dispute we have initiated.”
Additionally, Pérez emphasised that “the recent TSJC ruling also stipulates that the City Council and Élite Taxi are initially liable for legal costs. This, along with the compensation for the 2021 work stoppages, could exceed three million Euros that the City Council must pay.”
The Guild believes that “the City Council should view us as partners who can contribute to the city’s mobility plans, rather than succumbing to personal interests influenced by the president of Élite Taxi. Especially at a time when the sector is facing challenges from the influx of multinational ride-sharing companies like Uber or Cabify, as well as unregulated pirate operators taking our customers away.”
Therefore, Pérez urged, “After 12 years of the City Council dictating our work schedules, it is time for a change. We are independent professionals, and the sector should be liberalised to allow everyone to choose their working hours. Taxis need to be readily available to serve the public, and collaborative solutions should be explored to meet citizen demand. This current conflict is not the way to tackle the sector’s challenges, as both taxi drivers and passengers are integral parts of the industry.”
