Northwest labor press., January 16, 2015, Page 8, Image 8

Mass rally Jan. 24:
ROGUE UBER CAB Oregon Needs a Raise
STEAMROLLS INTO PORTLAND
... After law-abiding Union Cab
waited 22 months for permits
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Those pro-union cabbies were so
polite and law-abiding. They asked the
City of Portland for permission to form
a new driver-owned co-op, Union Cab,
and then waited 22 months for the City
to say yes.
Uber, by contrast, didn’t bother ap-
plying for permits. The app-based ride
company launched operations in Port-
land on Dec. 5 in flagrant violation of
City code. Thirteen days later, Mayor
Charlie Hales announced that the City
will develop a completely new regula-
tory framework by April 9, 2015, to al-
low companies like Uber to operate
legally. Uber — facing a City lawsuit
and $67,750 in fines — graciously sus-
pended its illegal operation while the
City works to make it legal.
To develop the new rules, the City
snubbed its existing advisory board —
the Private for-Hire Transportation
Board of Review — and instead ap-
pointed a task force chaired by Mike
Greenfield, former director of the State
of Oregon Department of Administra-
tive Services. The City needed a “fresh
look,” explained Brian Hockaday, aide
to Commissioner Steve Novick, at the
Private for-Hire Board’s Jan. 7 meet-
ing.
Taxi drivers and company represen-
tatives grilled Hockaday at the two-
hour meeting, but got few answers as
to how the rules will be changed.
“I’m really not trying to be evasive,”
Hockaday said. “I have no idea what
it’s going to look like.”
Broadway Cab general manager
Raye Miles voiced frustration that the
City had a backlog of over 100 new
permit requests, and yet promised an
illegal operator to change the rules in
90 days.
“Would that have worked for Broad-
way?” Miles asked Hockaday. “If we
just started operating more vehicles,
would we be getting the attention?”
“I want to make it really clear,”
Hockaday replied. “We have not made
any sort of commitment with Uber or
any other company on any specific ob-
ligations.”
The new task force held its first
meeting Jan. 14 (after this issue went
to press). But every feature of existing
regulations will be up for reconsidera-
tion: whether the City should regulate
fares or limit the number of taxi per-
mits, whether it should require insur-
ance, inspections and background
checks, whether it should require com-
panies to be accessible to the handi-
capped.
“I don’t know what the City’s going
to do,” said Union Cab president Kedir
Wako, a member of Communications
Workers of America Local 7901.
“We’re watching it closely. It’s going
to be a big issue in our life.”
The union-endorsed group 15 Now
will hold a rally Saturday, Jan. 24, on
the steps of the Oregon Capitol in
Salem to call for an increase in the
minimum wage to $15 an hour. The
noon rally will be followed by a
statewide gathering at the IKE Box
meeting space, 299 Cottage Street
Northeast at 1 p.m.
Free bus transportation is being pro-
vided from locations all over the state,
but riders are asked to sign up at
http://bit.ly/ 1w4naC3. From Portland,
buses will leave at 10:30 a.m. from the
parking lot of Service Employees In-
ternational Union (SEIU) Local 49,
3536 SE 26th Ave., departing from
Salem at 3 p.m.
Rally cosponsors include Oregon
AFL-CIO, Jobs with Justice, Oregon
School Employees Association, Amer-
ican Federation of Teachers-Oregon,
SEIU Locals 49 and 503, AFSCME
Locals 328 and 88, Laborers Local
483, Oregon Education Association,
Oregon Federation of Nurses and
Health Professionals, International
Longshore and Warehouse Union,
Portland Association of Teachers, Ore-
gon State Association of Letter Carri-
ers, Communications Workers of
America Local 7901, and Musicians
Local 99.
Rally for universal health care
Health Care for All Oregon is or-
ganizing a rally on the Capitol steps in
Salem Wednesday, Feb. 11, from 11
a.m. to 1 p.m., to call on state legisla-
tors to create a universal health care
system for Oregon.
State Sen. Michael Dembrow was
able to pass legislation in 2013 author-
izing a privately-funded study of how
to best fund a universal health care sys-
tem in Oregon, but it would take
$200,000 to fund the study, and the
group has raised just $50,000 so far.
Another bill will be submitted in 2015
to fund the remainder.
Dembrow — the Legislature’s lead-
ing supporter of universal health care
— will headline the Feb. 11 rally,
which will also feature jazz musician
Norm Sylvester, the Raging Grannies,
and “Mad As Hell Minutes,” an oppor-
tunity for participants to share their
own health care stories.
Health Care for All-Oregon is a
grassroots coalition of over 100 organ-
izations, including unions, businesses,
non-profits and church groups. The
group is organizing bus transportation
and car pools from Portland, Corvallis,
Eugene, Ashland, LaGrande and the
Oregon Coast. Visit hcao.org to regis-
ter.
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
JANUARY 16, 2015