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ECONOMY | 11-04-2019 10:22

Taxi drivers march on Plaza de Mayo to demand reversal of Uber ruling

The Buenos Aires City Judiciary and the nation's Supreme Court have ruled in favour of Uber's right to operate.

Taxi drivers in Buenos Aires marched on the city's Plaza de Mayo on Thursday to demand authorities take action against platforms like Uber. The march began at 11am downtown.

In a press release, taxi drivers' unions complained Uber in Argentina had enjoyed "three years of illegal and predatory activity".

They took aim at the government's "passivity" and "weak and insufficient measures" to stop Uber and similar companies from operating in the city's private transport market.

Both the City's Judiciary and the country's Supreme Court have ruled in favour of the platform's right to operate.

"In the midst of a brutal economic crisis which growths daily, which ruins the demand for taxis, their income and the benefits they receive, which prompts uncontrolled inflation in the cost of living our households experience and in the maintenance and renewal of our vehicles", the ATC representing drivers said.

The group called for the government to "adopt urgent measures to stop the activity of multinationals like Uber, Cabify and others, which are clearly designed to destroy the public service offered by taxis and to monopolize them".

Other unions participating in the march were SPT, SPAT, UPAT and UPYMRA.

A passenger died last week, reportedly being driven by a drunk Uber driver on the Panamericana freeway. The incident prompted the company's managing director in the Southern Cone Juan Labaqui to insist "Uber was never illegal" in Argentina.

"The courts' ruling is final", Labaqui told Continental radio.

-TIMES/PERFIL

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