Between the Competition and the Capitalists: Guangzhou’s Taxi Driver Strike

On the opening day of the biannual China Import and Export Fair (also known as the Canton Fair), one of the busiest days of the year for Guangzhou taxi drivers, the roads were stuffed, but strangely, there were few taxis in sight.

A large chunk of Guangzhou’s approximately 40,000 taxi drivers had decided to collectively take a rest break. This massive strike of Guangzhou taxi drivers, covering the whole of the Guangzhou urban area as well as Huadu, an annexed city now belonging to Guangzhou, was sparked by a strike call first sent out on October 7th and circulated on the internet.

Taxi drivers were acting in response to long standing disgruntlement with deteriorating conditions in the industry – fees not keeping up with inflation, increasing “membership fees” (payments to the taxi companies they are contracted under), increasing competition and decreasing respect.

To open the article, please, click here: Between the Competition and the Capitalists: Guangzhou’s Taxi Driver Strike