10 NEWS
June 27 - July 3, 2020
TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS
Premier Sharlene Cartwright Robinson at a press conference on Thursday
A taxi driver’s placard reads ‘No stimulus no vote’
Taxi drivers picket premier’s office over unpaid stimulus grants BY OLIVIA ROSE FRUSTRATED taxi drivers picketed the Office of the Premier in Providenciales on Thursday (June 25) to demand their stimulus payments. The out of work cabbies congregated outside the Hilly Ewing Building while Premier Sharlene Cartwright Robinson held a press conference inside to address other issues. The peaceful protest was organised by the Turks and Caicos Taxi Association. Quincy Parker, who represented the drivers, told the Weekly News that they have been without work for months due to the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. He claimed the Government is turning a blind eye to their plight and refuses to pay them the $1,200 stimulus grant promised months ago. “The country has been on lockdown for about three months now and the Government said that they were going to take care of the tourism/hospitality industry in the form of a stimulus. “Taxi drivers are yet to see anything from the Government as far as the stimulus is concerned. “We put in our applications for the stimulus only to get a response saying that we filled out the wrong forms and we were supposed to fill out the small business forms. “So we were presented with the small business forms and we filled out the small business forms only to hear that the next reason our application didn’t qualify was for the main fact that our work permits weren’t up to date.” He explained that the majority of public service operators are indigenous people
Taxi drivers protest in front of the Hilly Ewing building
who are allowed to operate without work permits. “We don’t need work permits, so how could they come back to us saying our work permits weren’t up to date? We don’t pay or need work permits.” Parker said the constant hassle from the Government is tantamount to deception. “So we felt as though we are being given the royal run around, which is something that the Government tends to do.” He stressed that taxi drivers continue to face excessive and “unnecessary” bureaucracy from the Government even
now during a crisis. “That brings up not only just the stimulus package but a lot of other issues that we have as taxi drivers in our industry, where they have us doing so many things. “It’s so hard to get your business registered to be able to operate every year.” Parker said that annually drivers have to fork out money for a range or requirements in order to ply their trade and they usually do so without protest. “We already paid so many different fees to the Government in so many different areas.
“If they need, we can do a list of all the payments we’ve made from business licence to registering our vehicles, to paying certificates just to say we’ve done our refresher courses every year, to midyear inspection and then having to take into account that we have vehicles to fix. “We have to buy parts; we have to pay mechanics. Not only that, but we also have our insurance to pay. We have to make sure that the guests that we are taking are insured.” Parker called on the Government to alleviate the pressure drivers face by cutting back or reducing some of the payments. “So it’s a lot that we’ve already paid,” he said “now we’re being asked to pay NIB and NHIP. “While I do agree that these things are necessary and we should pay them I think they should give us a leeway somewhere. This is not fair. It’s not only not fair but it’s not right.” Parker went on to say that many Islanders are struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic, and the Government’s relief is either too slow or non-existent in some cases. “We’re at a place right now where we don’t know how we will feed our families. We’re in the middle of a crisis, we cannot work for ourselves. “They’re a lot of Turks Islanders who haven’t gotten any relief from the Government since the borders have shut down. “If you watch the news you’ll see most countries have given their people some sort of relief in order for them to get CONTINUED
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