The taxi sector has announced a unique protest during the Fallas and Magdalena festivals. Vehicles will offer their services free of charge on March 14 and 18 during specific time slots in the cities of Valencia, Alicante, and Castellón, coinciding with the scheduled strikes on Metrovalencia and TRAM d’Alacant.
Specifically, the service will be free on Thursday, March 14, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., in Valencia and Castellón. The action will be repeated on Monday, March 18, at the same time, in Valencia and Alicante.
With this action, taxi drivers are demanding that the Valencian Regional Government amend the regulations governing vehicles with drivers (VTC).
Professional associations denounce what they consider to be a “covert liberalization” of the sector and request an increase in inspection resources.
The group opposes the granting of new urban authorizations for VTCs without prior reports on their impact on traffic and public services in each municipality.
They have warned that, once the two-week negotiation period granted to them by the regional government has ended, they will begin a new campaign of protests throughout the Valencian Community.
The misnamed “Japanese-style strike”
Many media outlets have referred to this action as a “Japanese-style strike,” although in reality, it is an urban legend of Spanish origin that does not correspond to any actual union practice in Japan.
In Spain and Latin America, the expression is used to describe an alleged tactic in which workers work longer hours than usual as a means of exerting pressure.
The logic would be that, by overproducing, the company accumulates stocks that it cannot place on the market—especially harmful in industries that operate on a just-in-time system, such as the Japanese—which would cause prices to fall and generate losses for the entrepreneur.
According to this narrative, workers would also continue to receive their salaries, unlike in a traditional strike.
The concept does not exist in Japan. It is a Spanish invention: the term has appeared in Spanish media since at least 1983, but it has never been a documented practice in the Asian country.
What does exist in Japan is passive resistance or silent strikes: working more slowly, following procedures to the letter, or reducing the pace. This has nothing to do with the overproduction described.
