A senior Chongqing official promised, in talks on Thursday, to help licensed cabbies increase their income.

Bo Xilai, secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Chongqing Municipal Committee, met with taxi drivers who went on strike early this week.

Bo Xilai (R), Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee shakes hands with a representative of the city's taxi drivers who went on strike earlier this week. Bo met with taxi drivers Thursday, November 6, 2008 and promised to help licensed cabbies increase their incomes. [Photo: cq.xinhuanet.com]

For three hours, Bo listened to their grievances.

He suggested a cab driver organization be established to maintain communication between the government and cabbies.

Bo, also a CPC politburo member, promised to crack-down on unlicensed cabs which took business away from legal drivers.

"It's better for you (unlicensed cabbies) to quit first, or you will become our target in a crack-down," Bo warned.

No specifics were given as to when or how this campaign, to improve work conditions for drivers, would happen.

The talk was broadcast live by the Chongqing Television and main news portals.

Drivers in the city's main streets stopped working on Monday morning to protest a number of issues, including insufficient supplies of compressed natural gas (CNG), which fuels most cabs in the city, competition from unlicensed cabs, high fines for traffic violations and the unfair division of fares between drivers and companies.

The strike became violent as some strikers gathered on business streets to stop working cabs and pull out the drivers.

The city government promised to reduce the fees that drivers pay to their companies, increase CNG supplies and step up efforts to crack down unlicensed cabs, to meet the demands of cab drivers.

Bo Xilai (R), Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee answers questions from the city's taxi drivers during talks with their representative on Thursday, November 6, 2008. [Photo: cq.people.com.cn]

(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2008)