INTOLERABLE POVERTY DUE TO COVID ‘DESTROYING’ MENTAL HEALTH OF TAXI DRIVERS, UNITE UNION SAYS, WITH SOME DRIVERS EARNING AS LITTLE AS £14 PER DAY
WORKERS IN THE TRADE ARE BEING REFERRED TO THE SAMARITANS AFTER HAVING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS
A CAMPAIGN & PETITION HAS BEEN LAUNCHED TO DEMAND AN EMERGENCY BAILOUT FROM WELSH GOVERNMENT, AND DRIVERS ARE SET TO PROTEST IN THEIR TAXIS ON 24TH NOVEMBER, CARDIFF CITY CENTRE.
By SC Cook. Photo: Yusef Jama, Taxi driver and Unite union branch secretary: “Drivers needed someone to turn to.” Photo by F Clarke
union representing Taxi drivers in Wales say they are seeing a worrying rise in mental health problems among their members, including depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.
The Unite union is now demanding Welsh Government step in and provide emergency financial assistance to workers in the trade, who are struggling to pay mortgage, rent and bills.
Cardiff is the local authority most affected. The local union branch secretary, Yusef Jama, says that for some drivers the financial pressure has become unbearable, and he has even had to refer some drivers to the Samaritans helpline when he was worried about their safety.
“We’ve got to the point of having many conversations with drivers about anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts,” he told voice.wales. “I’m not joking. I got drivers basically really, really telling me straight up: ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna be around tomorrow.’ And I’ve had to give them my time.”
Yusef says he has started to take notes of when to check in with and call some drivers he knows are at risk.
“I put times in for people when I can speak to them for an hour and a half a day, to make sure they’re still alright and they’ve got a companion who’s listening to their problems. … I have admit I’m no professional but drivers needed someone to turn to.”
An online petition demanding an emergency financial bailout for workers in the trade has gathered 1,300 signatures so far and a drive-by protest is planned for November 24th in Cardiff.
In a campaign video launched by Unite, cabbies explain how they may soon have to give up everything they have worked for and talk of the stress they are under.
Taxi drivers across Wales have seen their trade & incomes decimated by the #COVID19 crisis.
— UniteWales (@UniteWales) November 12, 2020
With many unable to pay bills and feed their families we’re calling for Welsh Government support to help them through these difficult times.
Sign our petition: https://t.co/ZrEWdRjKEa pic.twitter.com/0vp0Lxxkmu
One supporter said they had recently seen a friend who works in the trade and explained how serious the situation with mental health was.
“I saw a friend who works as a taxi driver in Cardiff yesterday,” they wrote online, “& I was saddened to hear him say the same as the drivers in this video, he has really struggled with stress & its taking its toll mentally as well.”
The taxi trade was hit like so many others when lockdown was announced in March and has never really recovered, with things getting worse with the recent ‘fire-break.’ But drivers say that to date they have received no sector-specific bailout, and many are falling further into debt and financial arrears as poverty kicks in. When Welsh Government announced some financial support for sectors affected by the fire break, such as trains, buses and companies that have premises, nothing went to taxi drivers.
“The system was failing us before Covid,” says Yusef. “And the Covid now is basically hitting people left, right and centre and pushing them out of the trade.”
He compared the situation to Northern Ireland, where he says taxi drivers have been able to access emergency funds of around £14million to help them survive until they can work again.
Yusef’s members say that government support for the self-employed isn’t workable and are furious with authorities in Wales for forgetting about them. They have struggled to pay to make their vehicles ‘Covid-safe’ for passengers and drivers, and following discussions with Cardiff Council where they asked for rate relief, drivers were disappointed to only be offered 50 disposable masks and 500ml of hand sanitiser.
Competition from app-based technologies such as Uber and Ola meant that income was already below the living wage before Covid19. “Based on already low incomes, the self-employed assistance just isn’t enough.”
As has been reported previously on voice, the overwhelming majority of the trade in Cardiff is made up of Black, Asian and ethnic minority workers.
In many cases, money earnt from taxis is the sole source of family income, meaning that areas with large Black and Asian communities such as Butetown, Grangetown and Riverside could be particularly badly hit.
Drivers say that they would be put to better use during the pandemic if there was a more strategic response from the government about what they could do. Specifically, they say that they could use their cars to help deliver food, medical supplies and prescriptions, or assist with the safe transport of vulnerable people.
As it stands, many are left on the ranks trying to earn whatever they can, but this means sometimes taking home as little as £14 per day.
“But don’t forget,” says Yusef, “with that they have to pay their petrol costs, we’ve got to pay the insurance costs.”
He read out to me a message recently received from a driver detailing how much they had recently taken: “Monday, Tuesday last week I earned £14 and £17, for a full day’s work…. When waiting for up to three hours for a trip, it’s mental effects are soul destroying.”
In July, taxi drivers had difficulty in accessing safety screens, leaving them far more exposed to contracting Coronavirus at work. Earlier this year, Yusef and his colleagues marked the death of a fellow driver who died from Covid. He says that in total six taxi workers have died from Coronavirus in Cardiff and Newport.
Now it’s not just Covid that is putting them at serious risk, but intolerable financial stress. The union is not calling for restrictions to be lifted, but for an emergency bailout fund to be delivered by Welsh Government, putting pressure on Westminster for additional money if necessary. They also want councils, and specifically Cardiff council, to do far more to help.
Workers in the trade say the situation is unsustainable and they are now prepared to take action. They will hold a drive by protest and rally in Cardiff city centre on November 24th and are urging supporters to show their solidarity.
“They’re not making enough money to pay their mortgage, they’re not making enough money to feed their families,” says Yusef. “[Welsh Government] don’t consider us a trade that needs help…. we are so obviously bottom of the rung of the ladder, but we need equality, we need leadership and above all, we need help.”
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