http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=6863&catid=&volume_id=317&issue_id=390&volume_num=42&issue_num=45

Cash from cabbies

Yellow Cab pushes driver prepayment plan that city officials say is illegal

By Maria Dinzeo

› news@sfbg.com

The largest taxicab company in San Francisco is trying to squeeze more money from its drivers, who say they're already being hit hard by increased gate fees and rising fuel costs.

Yellow Cab has ordered its drivers to prepay for the privilege of driving each month, amounting to thousands of dollars for full-time drivers. Compounding that financial hardship is the apparent intention of the company to use prepaid gate fees to change the employment status of its drivers from employees to independent contractors who are no longer entitled to unemployment insurance and workers' compensation coverage.

While local officials say Yellow Cab's new policy is illegal, they have little power to compel the company to abandon the plan, which was supposed to go into effect Aug. 15 but has now been moved to December under pressure from city officials and the United Taxicab Workers union. Drivers are also threatening to bring legal action to stop Yellow Cab, relying on a past ruling barring the company from requiring deposits from its drivers and misclassifying drivers as independent contractors.

Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer, Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Taxi drivers working for Oakland's Friendly Cab Co. have the right to unionize, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday, more than five years after the cabbies first tried to form a union.

The drivers are employees rather than independent contractors, and therefore are covered by collective bargaining rules under federal law, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Although drivers lease their taxis from Friendly Cab and keep all fares and tips, the court said the company acts as an employer in controlling most aspects of their work.

The company's 90 to 100 drivers have been seeking union representation since 2002, when a National Labor Relations Board hearing officer ordered a union election and the company appealed, said Caren Sencer, attorney for the East Bay Taxi Drivers Association, a Teamsters affiliate.

"When it takes over five years and a federal court to let an employer know you have the right to organize, something has to change," Sencer said.

Dear Friends,

Taxi workers are going out on our third strike! Support the New York Taxi Workers Alliance as we prepare for our upcoming October 22nd 24-hour Strike and 12noon demonstration at TLC Headquarters at 40 Rector St. to protest the GPS tracking, and to demand the right to health care, a retirement pension, and union recognition for all drivers

This is a historic moment in our struggle for justice and equity for 43,000 license holders. We have been organizing without a strike fund, mandatory membership and dues, operational support or collective bargaining which would require the bosses to come to the table and negotiate in good faith. Our strikes have become the building blocks to an independent union. We're looking for volunteers of all types, whether you have lots of time or only a little, whether you can help for months or just one day. Volunteer to hand out fliers, make phone calls to update our members, help us keep our office running smoothly, and more

For more information or to sign-up to volunteer

please contact Kavita Mehra at kavitamehra@gmail.com

You can reach New York Taxi Workers Alliance at 212-627-5248

The Taxi and Limousine Commission has refused to listen to the tens of thousands of strikers of September who sacrificed not only two days hard-earned income, but operating expenses which drivers pay up front to the bosses to lease the taxi and medallion for the shift. Rather than health care, retirement pension, an 8-hour work day or livable income, the Taxi and Limousine Commission would rather require costly equipment to track drivers and force riders to listen to ads on TV monitors in the backseat. The monitors heat up the partition against the driver's back for 12 hours. Drivers will also lose 5% of the fare, including tolls and tips, on every credit card transaction

By JOHN SULLIVAN - New York Times September 6, 2007

The number of available taxis was visibly smaller in New York City today as a group of cabdrivers began a two-day strike, although it was hard to say how many of the city’s 13,000 yellow cabs remained off the road.

The strike organizers, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, proclaimed the action a success at a 10:15 a.m. news conference, saying that 80 percent of cabdrivers had stayed away from work.

But Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a news conference just before 2 p.m. that counts taken by the city showed the vast majority of cabdrivers continued to work despite the strike.

“Over all I think it is fair to say today’s strike is having a limited impact, if at all,” the mayor said.

Because small companies or individual owners operate many of the city’s cabs, an exact count of taxis on the street is difficult, the mayor said. But he said large fleet owners, which represent 30 to 40 percent of the taxis, reported that 75 percent of their cars were on the street today, compared with 93 percent last Wednesday. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Kennedy International Airport, reported that the number of taxis was 14 percent below normal at Kennedy, he said.

By Shreema Mehta - The New Standard, February 27, 2007

Taxi-cab drivers in Oakland, California are demanding that their employer recognize them as direct employees and guarantee them the right to negotiate workplace conditions through their union.

Although the National Labor Relations Board ruled in 2004 that drivers working for the Friendly Cab Company should be recognized as direct employees, the company is appealing the decision and continues to treat them as "independent contractors." The fight over cab-driver classification in Oakland reflects challenges faced by cab drivers throughout the United States.

The cab drivers dispute the classification because their employer controls several aspects of their work but refuses to provide the typical benefits that an employee would get. The cabbies also say Friendly Cab’s appeal of the Board ruling is preventing them from pushing for safer cars and better pay through their union. Because the company is still refusing to recognize them as employees, cab drivers are unable to collectively bargain over their working conditions.