Government has attempted to meet taxi drivers halfway, Bermuda Industrial Union president Derrick Burgess said on Friday ? now the taxi drivers must also attempt a compromise.

And though he condemned the timing of the taxi drivers? strike at the height of the tourism season, he said last year?s BIU strike in the days after Hurricane Fabian was warranted because Government was not compromising on that issue ? unlike what they have done with GPS.

?The drivers out there protesting are not part of the trade union movement,? he told , adding that Bermuda Taxi Owners Association president Gordon Flood told him in the BIU headquarters more than two years ago that the union has nothing for drivers.

If the drivers came together as a unified group they would have a massive amount of bargaining power, he said ? power enough to guarantee them better car insurance and health insurance. ?We told them all that ... But they didn?t want that.?

Mr. Burgess condemned the timing of the strike action by taxi drivers, coming as it does at the height of the tourism season ? an opinion which led to questions about the timing of the BIU-led strike in the days following the wrath of Hurricane Fabian.

?Just because your lights are out, you don?t let thieves come in and take everything,? Mr. Burgess replied. ?You?ve got to stand up for something. That was a principle. We went through the process.?