Nov. 16, 2012_NWLP 10/10/17 10:52 AM Page 12
… Union Cab: Dream comes true
(From Page 1)
chamber. Now they stood and cheered.
For the drivers, Union Cab repre-
sents liberation from a sharecropper re-
lationship with cab companies. All but
one of the companies charge drivers
more than $500 a week to drive their
own cars. Once upon a time, Portland
taxi drivers were employees of the cab
companies, and were represented by the
Teamsters Union. But the industry
changed in the 1980s and ’90s, and to-
day, drivers are independent contractors.
According to a January 2012 report
by the City, Portland taxi drivers aver-
age $6.22 an hour, working as long as
14 hours a day. [The exception is Radio
Cab, an existing driver-owned co-op,
where drivers make more money and
work fewer hours.]
“It’s our dream to spend time with
our families, and work 40 hours a
week,” Union Cab leader Kedir Wako
told City Council.
The Union Cab proposal was not
without critics, however. Several taxi
drivers, including Red Diamond, taxi
drivers’ elected representative on the
City’s taxi industry advisory board, said
increasing the number of taxi permits
will dilute the market, thus reducing
what each driver can earn. Diamond
said more than 300 drivers signed a pe-
tition in support of that position, though
only a dozen or so turned up at City Hall
for the hearing.
PAGE 12
But City regulators had an answer to
that. There clearly aren’t enough taxis
to satisfy existing customer demand,
said Kathleen Butler, Regulatory Divi-
sion manager in the Portland Revenue
Bureau. Portland has fewer taxis per
thousand residents than comparable
cities, and regulators testing taxi avail-
ability had to wait 30 to 120 minutes in
different parts of the city and different
times of the day. Drivers aren’t being
pinched by an oversupply of cabs, But-
ler said, but rather by illegal competition
from town cars and illegally operating
cabs. And a separate set of City Council
resolutions passed later in the afternoon
will enable the City to crack down on
that illegal competition.
“There really are potential advan-
tages to a driver-owned cooperative cab
company,” Adams said, prior to casting
the final vote. Commissioners Nick
Fish, Amanda Fritz, and Dan Saltzman
also voted to approve the permits; Com-
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
missioner Randy Leonard was absent.
After approving Union Cab, City
Council considered and approved re-
forms overhauling taxi regulation in
Portland.
First was an ordinance making it an
offense, punishable by fines of up to
$3,500, to give or receive payment for
steering fares to a cab driver; the City
found that hotel valets and taxi com-
pany dispatchers were directing passen-
gers to taxis in exchange for kickbacks,
but that cut into driver income and put
pressure on drivers to overcharge pas-
sengers. The ordinance also cracks
down on town cars and shuttles taking
away taxi business by accepting passen-
gers without advance reservations,
which they are required to have.
Another ordinance raises taxi permit
fees. That will enable the City to add
two full-time regulators to what City of-
ficials said was an understaffed three-
person operation that must juggle taxi
oversight with other regulatory respon-
sibilities.
A third ordinance mandates that fu-
ture taxi permit renewals for all compa-
nies will depend on how well those
companies satisfy a set of performance
standards, including customer service,
wheelchair accessibility, and driver con-
ditions.
Union Cab will be self-financed,
says Local 7901 President Madelyn
Elder: Drivers have saved close to
$300,000 for the company’s start-up,
which would pay for dispatch, an office,
and other requirements. Before permits
can be issued, Union Cab will have to
purchase a dispatch system, set up an
office, and pass a financial audit by City
regulators.
Portland’s won’t be the only union-
affiliated taxi co-op: CWA has helped
get similar efforts under way in Col-
orado, Arizona, and Virginia.
“CWA is looking at different ways of
organizing,” Elder told the Labor Press.
“There are a hell of a lot of people
working like this, as independent con-
tractors, and they need a union too.”
NOVEMBER 16, 2012