Barcelona taxi union fined €123,000 for pressuring drivers not to use ride-hailing platforms

Barcelona's Élite Taxi union has been fined €123,000 for pressuring drivers not to use ride-hailing platforms such as Uber, Catalan competition authorities (ACCO) announced on Tuesday. 

According to ACCO, the group's actions constitute a "very serious infringement" of Spanish competition law 15/2007. 

The authorities argue Élite Taxi "launched a pressure campaign" against Uber in late 2020 when the ride-hailing platform was set to begin providing its services in Barcelona, discouraging drivers in the metropolitan area from using the app and "spreading a negative and discrediting image of Uber in the media."

They also say the union "exerted pressure on taxi drivers through social media, on their website or phone calls, warning them of the negative consequences of working with the company, and dissuading them from collaborating with Uber."

ACCO has found Élite Taxi guilty of doxing taxi drivers who did use the app and highlights that the union shared the guidelines it sent individuals regarding how they were to "exert pressure and coerce taxi drivers who collaborated with Uber" with the aim of hampering the ride-hailing company's mediation efforts. 

These actions, the competition authorities say, "led to the boycott of Uber to the detriment of the taxi drivers themselves and consumers."

Élite Taxi has long protested the use of ride-hailing companies, successfully taking Uber to the EU Court of Justice in 2017 and having it declared a "service in the field of transport." 

"Francoist repression"

Élite Taxi accused ACCO on Tuesday of "repressing like a Francoist court." 

In a statement, the group said that they will bring ACCO to court over the fine, which they believe is "criminal" and amounts to "prevarication and bribery." 

Élite Taxi also announced "a series of mobilizations in which the streets of Catalonia will burn" from September. 

"Toxic"

"We say what we think," said the leader of Élite, Tito Álvarez: "Uber is a toxic company, which for years has been destroying taxis." 

"There is a fundamental right called freedom of expression," Álvarez said. "We will not be silenced by a handful of neoliberals who are the armed branch of the multinationals against the workers and the self-employed," he added, accusing the ACCO of being made up of "little men” which “act like the [Franco-era] Court of Public Order” and aim to “censor.” 

"We will humiliate them", he said, adding that while Élite Taxi may be "belligerent," they "honestly" defend the interests of taxi drivers.