NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
December 7, 2018 | PAGE 9
BUY UNION
Union Cab quietly goes non-union
Union Cab, the cooperative taxi
company that launched in Port-
land in 2013 with support from
the Oregon
AFL-CIO, is
no
longer
union-affili-
ated. Under
state and fed-
eral law, taxi
owner-opera-
tors are consid-
ered independ-
ent contractors without a legally
protected right to unionize. The
owner-drivers of Union Cab
started out as voluntary associ-
ate members of Communica-
tions Workers of America Local
7901, but dues payments were
irregular and eventually stopped
being paid altogether.
The company’s web site still
says it’s “owned and operated
by the drivers who are union
members,” and says it’s affili-
ated with CWA Local 7901, but
a union officer
and a company
dispatcher
confirmed
that’s
no
longer in fact
the case.
Reached by
phone, Union
Cab general
manager Traci Sivongxay said
she couldn’t say whether the
company is union-affiliated or
not, and twice emailed the
coop’s board about it, but got no
response. A month’s worth of
emails and phone calls got no
further response confirming that
the drivers are no longer union-
affiliated, nor explanation as to
why.
t
w
i
c
Raymond Thomas
Cynthia Newton
Melissa Haggerty
James Coon
Chris Frost
Sydney Montanaro
You need
a lawyer who
understands
how your union
disability benefits
and your Social
Security disability
benefits will
fit together.
820 SW Second Ave., Suite 200,
Portland, OR 97204
Scott Sell
Chris Thomas
www.tcnf.legal