Taxi unions operating at the Yaounde-Nsimalen and Douala international airports announced a general strike from 12 October unless Aéroports du Cameroun suspends the TAXIGO digital platform, at a meeting in Yaounde on 7 October.
The unions, grouped under the Dynamique Unitaire des Syndicats des Transporteurs Routiers, say the terms imposed on drivers are unworkable. They say each driver must pay a deposit of 800,000 XAF and then remit 18,450 XAF a day, with unpaid sums taken from the deposit. They say the vehicle required under the scheme is billed at 23.5 million XAF over four years while its purchase price is 10.2 million XAF, and that the model was not validated by the Ministry of Transport.
Joseph Noël Biyoa, deputy secretary general of the CSTC, said drivers at Nsimalen make at most three trips a day, against the five the airport operator requires. The unions say a fare of 2,500 XAF is shared between two drivers, and that passenger fares would rise to 18,000 XAF by day and 20,500 XAF at night, with the platform taking 1,000 XAF per trip.
Aéroports du Cameroun and ALO Technologies, the platform operator, have not responded publicly to the complaints. The unions say they have written to the ADC director general and requested meetings without success.
The strike call covers two of Cameroon's main international airports and would begin on 12 October.