I'm back now. Here's what the real story was

There was a strike in Florence (buses) on that Friday.

But there was never a taxi strike. The problem was and is that there are only two cab companies in Florence, and they aren't behaving properly. There was a concert in town and a big fashion show. So the taxicab drivers from both companies would take their cabs and park them (leaving them empty) while awaiting special fares from the Pitti fashion show attendees.

At no time during my stay in Florence was there a taxi strike. Even our hotel couldn't get the cabs to operate without a LOT of difficulty. This wasn't even a case of being overcharged. We had trouble finding a cab at ANY price. And the locals were having trouble with it too.

We did find that the cabs in Rome did largely behave...although 1 out of 3 took an unorthodox route.

I'd gladly take a taxi if they're operating and operating fairly. In Florence, neither was the case.

I really don't care about the politics of Uber vs non-Uber. But if the taxicabs engage in egregiously bad behavior, which was definitely the case in Florence that week, then Uber is vital.

By the way, I'm not a huge fan of Uber either. But they are better than the alternative...which is cab drivers not serving the public and ripping people off.

Also note that many locals don't take local cabs, so they rarely see the problems that tourists face. And it did significantly negatively impact our stay in Florence. We didn't go for that big night out in town, because we were afraid (correctly - as per other guests in our hotel) that we wouldn't be able to get back unless we walked 4 miles back to the hotel.

I fail to see how Uber is worse than some sort of cartel/duopoly by the cabdrivers. At least with Uber operating, the cabs behave much better.