Drew Dilkens has 'betrayed' Windsor taxis by talking up Uber, driver says
A local taxi driver says Mayor Drew Dilkens has crossed a line by signalling that Windsor is receptive to having Uber come to the city and compete with local taxi operators.
"We were betrayed by our mayor," said Marwan Abouzeeni, when speaking with CBC Radio's Windsor Morning on Tuesday.
In recent days, Dilkens has said that he thinks Uber is "the wave of the future" and that the city should look for a way to accommodate the ride-sharing service's entry into the local market.
Abouzeeni, who is also the chair of Unifor Local 195, said local cab drivers will be pursuing a different approach with Uber.
"We're going to fight it legally," he said.
The union that Abouzeeni is a part of held a meeting on Monday night, so they could talk about Uber. He said many of those drivers are upset with the mayor as well.
"This is their livelihood, this is how they make a living," said Abouzeeni, noting that hundreds of people in Windsor support their families by driving a taxi.
He questioned how Dilkens could claim to be creating jobs, when he would end up diluting the work that is available for the current taxi drivers.
"Is that creating jobs?" Abouzeeni asked.
The mayor has also said that he had spoken with a taxi driver who told him he would prefer to be working for Uber.
Abouzeeni acknowledged that some local drivers attended information sessions that Uber held about its business. But he predicted any who would choose to go work for Uber would end up coming back to the existing system.