A planned three-day strike by maxi-taxi operators in Trinidad and Tobago hit an uncertain crossroads on Wednesday, after nearly five hours of closed-door negotiations with Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Eli Zakour ended with no resolution and widespread operator dissatisfaction. What was scheduled as three consecutive days of service withdrawal now hangs in the balance, with the Route Two Maxi Taxi Association agreeing to pause action for a second day of internal deliberation, leaving other operator associations yet to confirm their next steps.
The high-stakes meeting, which kicked off at 2 p.m. and stretched into the late afternoon, brought together association leaders, Minister Zakour, the ministry’s permanent secretary, government legal advisors and senior transport officials. It was convened directly in response to the first day of strike action, called to push for long-sought reforms across the maxi-taxi sector.
Speaking to reporters after the talks wrapped, Eon Hewitt, president of the Association of Maxi Taxis Trinidad and Tobago, said no final decision on the resumption of industrial action would be announced until association leaders held full consultations with their rank-and-file members Wednesday evening. “The meeting dragged on for hours, we covered every item on our agenda and walked through the entire current landscape of our industry,” Hewitt explained. “Right now, after what unfolded today, I can’t give an honest, clear assessment of where we stand. We need to go back, talk through everything with our members, and reach a collective decision.”
Hewitt acknowledged the significant disruption the strike has caused for everyday commuters across the country, and extended a formal apology to the public. “I don’t want to see kids and working people going through another day of chaos like they did today,” he said. “Every time I speak to the public, all I can do is apologize – we know this disruption is wrong for everyday people, but we felt we had no other choice.”
Among the core demands operators brought to the negotiating table were a call to raise the legal speed limit for maxi-taxis from 65 kilometers per hour to 80 kilometers per hour, clearer guidelines on the transferability of Public Service Vehicle passes, revised inter-route payment arrangements, targeted upgrades to transportation infrastructure, and solutions for longstanding travel issues impacting operators and commuters in Tobago.
During the talks, Minister Zakour informed representatives that the speed limit proposal had already undergone initial review and been forwarded to the chief traffic engineer for further technical assessment. But operator representatives left the meeting frustrated by the response to their other demands: many core concerns, particularly those related to infrastructure upgrades, were dismissed as falling outside of the transport ministry’s direct regulatory remit. Operators argue that cross-government coordination through the Cabinet is long overdue to address these decades-long issues plaguing the sector.
Brenton Knights, president of the Route 2 Maxi Taxi Association, told reporters that operators were deeply disappointed that the meeting focused almost entirely on updating representatives on ongoing ministry work, rather than negotiating concrete solutions to the grievances that sparked the strike in the first place. “The whole purpose of this meeting was supposedly just to bring us up to speed on what the ministry has been doing,” Knights said. “That does not match at all what we actually need to resolve the issues that brought us to protest. There is a huge gap between what we expected in terms of tangible solutions, and what the ministry presented to us today. What was put on the table is nowhere near enough to get us out of this crisis.”
Knights also criticized the meeting for what he described as unhelpful political undertones that distracted from substantive negotiations.
Despite the widespread dissatisfaction with the outcome of talks, operators were quick to praise Minister Zakour for his willingness to engage in the full five hours of discussions, with Hewitt noting that the minister arrived first and stayed through the entire negotiating session without walking out.
When asked to sum up his feelings after the meeting, Hewitt offered two words: “perplexed” and “hungry.” He also clarified that the industrial action is not a broader protest against the ruling administration as a whole, noting “Our fight was never with the Government. It’s with the gentleman [Zakour].”
While operators have paused strike action for 24 hours of reflection, no final word on whether action will resume has been announced. Even with the pause, Hewitt defended the strike as a necessary step, even with the significant financial losses operators face every day of service withdrawal. “When you’re fighting for a good cause, you can never lose,” he said. “There’s no price tag on standing up for what’s right for our industry.”
As of Wednesday evening, all eyes remain on the operator association internal consultations, with commuters across Trinidad and Tobago waiting to learn whether widespread service disruption will resume Thursday or be delayed for further negotiations.