Illegal taxi ride goes sour, the “customer” gets beat up and left out in the cold when he refuses to give ALL his money to a hack driver.

The last thing we need is to make Helsinki more like St. Peterburg. You used the term “private taxis”. Well that’s what they are in Finland too! It’s not like the government owns them – they just use them (a lot, especially MP:s who don’t have their own drivers). The companies play by the rules, they employ drivers and pay them fair (I think most don’t pay a steady wage, instead a percentage of the fares), and they really shouldn’t be compromised by some drunk students with their daddy’s car or an immigrant with minimal Finnish skills and no concept of the city streets. The students can get a job driving a taxi pretty easily – the training is short and while it costs a good deal the work is pretty steady so you’ll earn it back in no time. The immigrants can learn the language and take the training too – or go drive a bus full time

It’s expensive to use a cab. Boo-hoo. It’s expensive, but it’s also a safe, fair and sure way to get where you’re going. And people use taxis a lot – they need more drivers, it’s been all over the papers. The fact that taxis were readily available during this strike shows that the public transportation has pretty strong backbones, a few lines can be down and it doesn’t cause a citywide panic.

Libertarians are hypocrites I think. They want things to be free, and when asked how it will work they use things that are working through regulations as basis. Privatizing public transportation has NEVER led to improvements in it, ANYWHERE. Correct me if I’m wrong.

It’s the staring competition that ultimately decides if a strike is to begin – who will blink first? Both sides know that the most to be gained and most to be lost is on the table mere hours before a strike is to begin, so they usually go that far – and don’t blink. So the strike begins and after support strikes pop up the management usually gives in, especially if there’s a remotely good deal on the table.

That’s the way it went this time too. And I’m glad it did. The workers of this country will not be tossed around according to the whims of international companies only interested in their stock status. And this is coming from a Kokoomus voter.

I absolutely do think employees should bend a little bit more too. It’s just that this time they did. They said they’d be willing to adjust to the shift requirements as long as their full-time hours would be filled in a week. The management saying no to that I think only signals that their real motivation is to get more power. It’s really about power – management wants to be able to say who works when and even for what pay. But that’s not the way it’s supposed to work – people are people, not machines that can be used and tossed aside. Negotiating is what the management – not AKT – failed to do.

Hehe, If I remember, in the good old cold war days the finnish transport branch had two trade unions, one with CIA and one with KGB contacts. AKT, or its predecessor was the one with the CIA connection and good relations to the U.S. brother organization, which was at the time run by Mr. Hoffa.

The previous bus strike was in November 2004. That’s still too recently, but an order of magnitude from your “a few months ago”.

“Thank Christ the bus system in Finland is semi-privatized or else all of them would be on strike…or possibly none of them.”

Actually, it’s the privatized drivers that are on strike, the municipal drivers are working normally.

I don’t think it was nation-wide the last time.

But this strike is great. Since Gold Line (former “mail buses” of Suomen Posti, today owned by private Koiviston Auto) is also on strike, Suomen Posti has to find other ways to deliver mail for example in northern Lapland. Use of private taxis has now caused today’s mail to arrive 1,5 hours earlier than usual in some areas!

As I expected, there are plenty of taxis and it’s easy to get one.

Matti – No, people would still drive drunk, even when the cabs are free. Especially in the midwest, you are what you drive and people don’t surrender the to idea that they’re unfit to drive very easily. I used to call free cabs for people all the time when I was bartending…90% of the time, they’d disappear before the cab arrived, presumeably out to their cars.

Phil – I don’t know how illegal taxis trump the idea of good public transport. I mean, you wouldn’t hitchhike in the US, so why would you get into a car with a total stranger who likely can’t afford the medical or auto insurance or is also likely not bonded so, in the event of an accident, injury or other problem, you’re pretty much screwed if only because you were too cheap to pay the 10 extra bucks for a legit ride?

he should watch out – theres a big construction site next to the Connex depot

I was amazed by the outcome of this survey, but I have to admit it’s a fucking mess! The privatisations in the NL only worked for the telecom sector. But perhaps only because there is a watchdog body that has intervened many times.

I also don’t see how a privatised public transport system can work anywhere for the customer without a government dictating a certain bottom service level… Rural and more quiet areas will always suffer if money rules.

The problem isn’t with the system or Salonius or even employers in general ‘cos bus companies are usually small family enterprises with responsibility and loyalty towards employees (according to EK stats only 7% of work is done by part-time employees in Finland) but with these global companies.

On the other hand, AKT supremo Mr.Räty is a lawyer, a breed of SDP faith (much like President Halonen) who probably has a pic of Jimmy Hoffa on his nighttable…