Tobago maxis: Pay us for school term

Tobago maxi taxi drivers in a protest last year for unpaid wages. -
Tobago maxi taxi drivers in a protest last year for unpaid wages. -

KINNESHA GEORGE-HARRY

ON the heels of the Prime Minister's announcement of an early end to the current school term as a preventative measure against the novel coronavirus, maxi drivers in Tobago are calling on the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) and the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) to pay them for the rest of the period.

The drivers take children to and from school, but because of covid19 schools nationwide were unexpectedly closed on March 13 and will reopen on April 20.

Speaking with Newsday on Thursday, president of the Tobago Maxi Taxi Association Cloyd Williams said in the short term, a decision was taken to write to the Chief Secretary and Secretary of Education, Innovation and Energy, Kelvin Charles, as well as PTSC.

“Since they’ve cut us off from the schools, we are asking the THA and the PTSC to pay us for the rest of the school term.

“It’s not our fault, and we do have an agreement that once there is any disruptions of school and it's not the fault of the drivers , that we would be paid,” Williams said.

He said the drivers met briefly on Wednesday to discuss the situation.

“It’s very difficult for us: cruise ships are down, tours are down, school is closed. So there is really nothing coming in.

“We had a meeting and we discussed it, and some were suggesting that we approach the Government and see what can be done, because some of us have loans to pay,” he said adding that the meeting ended abruptly and a final decision on that was yet to be made.

“We still need to meet and decide on our continued approach to the whole situation.”

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