2010.

Happy New Year to you all and let us welcome the new decade and year of 2010 with renewed vigour and determination to save our jobs and trade from the damage of the past ten years.

This new decade brings to a close a very dark lazy chapter in the history of the London taxi trade, one where those in authority failed this trade at nearly every twist and turn. A near decade of economic boom that led us all to believe that things would only get better, with growth in business finally declining in the last quarter of 2007 the writing was on the wall and along came a recession that we are still presently in.

For the London taxi trade will survive a recession no matter how deep for we are decent hard working people who cut the cloth to meet our needs of family and loved ones. However the threat from private hire/mini-cabs and the lazy lax representation this trade has experienced over the last decade must be brought to a sharp end. The days of silence and submission are over and we shall stand tall and true and ensure that you the hard working self employed taxi-cab driver doesn't just have a voice but you have a union that you can be proud of, one that will work night and day to ensure our collective right to ply for hire isn't taken away by stealth or lazy representation.

1. Time to scrap the Satellite mini-cab offices and time for those who sat back and allowed these offices to be created without challenge to step down and go back to driving a taxi-cab.
2. Time to end the lines of illegal mini-cab ranks all over Greater London.
3. Time to stand up and defend our right to ply for hire.
4. Time to ask the united trade organisations what did that drive in on the 5th of Feb 2009 (it's nearly a year now) actually achieve.
5. Time to scrap clause 19 of the London Local Authorities and Transport for London (no.2) bill. The RMT is the only trade union/organisation that is actually doing work in Parliament and the Greater London Assembly to ensure that pedicabs DO NOT GET RANKS on the public highway. You should note the LTDA and the union UNITE support this bill and wish to see pedicab ranks on the public highway. Pedicab ranks will lead to mini-cab ranks, honestly can you really trust the authorities with those empty hollow promises of enforcement. Just look at the state of touting and illegal ranking by licensed mini-cab drivers which the authorities fail to deal with on a daily/weekly basis.
6. Time to end touting for "touting is rife and not just at Christmas".

The fact is 2010 is the beginning of a New Year and a new decade one that we can fill with hope so do one thing this year and that is join the only trade union that is prepared to deal with the issues that affect you and your family. It's time to join  the RMT specialist transport union and take an active part in saving your right to ply for hire and the world's greatest taxi-cab trade.

PLEASE NOTE THE RMT DOES NOT SUPPORT THE USE OF TACHOGRAPHS FOR SELF-EMPLOYED TAXI-CAB DRIVERS NOR DO WE REPRESENT MINI-CAB DRIVERS.

Time for certain trade organisations to concentrate on the real issues affecting this trade end the sniping and slating now and stand up to the authorities and defend our collective right to ply for hire. Join the specailist transport union the RMT at http://www.rmt.org.uk/ or contact the branch secretary for details at londontaxi@rmt.org.uk .

Best wishes from the RMT London taxi branch for 2010 and the decade ahead....