Striking taxi drivers brought traffic to a halt in Zhangzhou, a coastal city in east China's Fujian Province, on Monday, to protest rampant unlicensed cabs and changes in their contracts.

More than 70 cab drivers gathered in major downtown roads at about 7:30 a.m. and stopped other cabs from driving and almost 100 drivers marched to the municipal government to protest, said Liu Jiancong, head of Zhangzhou Municipal Communications Bureau.

Traffic in the city was stopped at about 3 p.m. as drivers gathered at an overpass at the Shengli East Road. It resumed two hours later, he said.

"The rampant spread of unlicensed cabs has greatly affected our business. I can only earn 40 yuan (5.8 U.S. dollars) a day," said a driver on condition of anonymity.

"The government should crack down on the unlicensed cabs and protect our rights," he said.

Licensed cab drivers have to pay around 1,000 yuan a month in registration fees and other taxes. At least 800 licensed cabs work the urban area of Zhangzhou, but they are believed to be greatly outnumbered by unlicensed cabs.

The city government-owned Zhangzhou Changyun Group Ltd, a major cab company, is expected to revise its agreement with drivers, requiring new vehicles to be owned by the company. The drivers feared this would harm their interests, Liu said.

The Changyun Group had agreed to extend current agreements with drivers and sign new agreements at a later date after negotiating with eight driver representatives Monday evening.

The government would strengthen a crackdown on the unlicensed cabs, he said.

It is still unclear whether the cab drivers had returned to work on Monday night.

Unlicensed cabs were blamed for triggering strikes by licensed drivers in several Chinese cities, including the southwest municipality of Chongqing and the Hainan island resort town of Sanya, last year.

The ministries of transport and public security on Feb. 20 launched a three-month nationwide crackdown on unlicensed taxis in an effort to protect drivers from illegal competition.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2009)