Team Chow invites Uber drivers, Taxi to same meeting
Famed author Robertson Davies once noted that asking him to write the forward for a book on literary criticism was akin to “asking the Goose to say grace at Christmas dinner.”
Taxi industry attendees at mayoralty candidate Olivia Chow’s “Taxi industry meeting” appeared to have felt much the same way when they realized some of the guests were Uber drivers, including Ejaz Butt of the International Association of App-Based Transport Workers , who has been working to form a union of Uber drivers for several years.
“They started complaining about their working conditions at Uber,” long-time Taxi driver Behrouz Khamseh told Taxi News, “and we asked, ‘Then why are you driving for Uber?’ These guys make no sense.”
Still, Khamseh and many other Taxi industry members are supporting Olivia Chow for Mayor; they regret that she did not beat John Tory in 2014.
“At least with Olivia, you know she is not just one of the councillors who supported John Tory in everything he did, including permitting Uber,” Khamseh points out. “Josh Matlow, Ana Bailao – they are just new versions of John Tory. We don’t need any more of that.”
Glad to meet with taxi drivers from across Toronto yesterday to hear their concerns and to talk about fairness in their industry.
— Olivia Chow (@oliviachow) April 30, 2023
As your Mayor, I’m committed to listening and learning from the experiences of Torontonians, and acting to make your life easier. pic.twitter.com/JkxtV6rpPJ
