From the Chicago Dispatcher, December 2008
Reader Opinions
The following opinions are not necessarily those of the Chicago Dispatcher.
Strike is not the answer
My fellow cabdrivers, for quite some time now, I have been hiding in my small community reading, studying and watching current trends of activities in the entire industry. You see, it is very easy and cheap to incite, cause confusion and tear people apart than to bring them together. Equally, it is very easy to be recognized for incitement; but, as is always the norm of character, it will never last. The foundation of leadership is to bring potential out of people into positive reaction to themselves in unity. This is very difficult because those “nay-sayers” are always very powerful in their folly.
I have been in this industry for some time. I have seen the driver side of it; I have seen the affiliation side of it; I have seen the bureaucracy part of it and I have learned the legislative side of it. When you sit down to knit all these together, you will never in your mind think for a moment that you are an “Independent Contractor” as they decorate us to be. Why?
This is the only industry where your income is heavily regulated but your expenses are not. This is the only industry where your salary is not regulated but your license (which is the certificate of service) is heavily regulated. The income is from the “Public” but your expenses are to the city of Chicago. By this, you fall into the apparatus of governing. We who understand the apparatus of “governing” should by now realize that whenever the “People's” representatives want to tell the “Public” of an increase, there should be data, there should be hearings and there should be constant lobbying of the “People's” representatives to convince them why we need the “Raise.” These demand a lot of hard work, time, money and manpower.
The dangerous thing every person “MUST” avoid is to relegate yourself into disrespect before you sit around the table to talk to anyone. To go out there and sing slogans to the public before sitting down to talk is to reduce ourselves into disrespectfulness. Already remember, most of us, by where we came from and by what we do, give negative perceptions. We do not need to exacerbate these by stooping so much lower than what is perceived of us. It is some people's culture to activate violence before they are being heard, at least in some countries. But my fellow drivers, this is Chicago. Let us agree to sit and talk than the course of STRIKE, which would make it worse for us.
There are way too many things our coming together would bring than this. Politicians fear numbers, which is why they should and will be scared of us if we thing of coming together “JUST” to take care of ourselves. Usually, we are our own enemies because we have no patience for procedure because it takes time for the results to creep in. We have no time to sit for 20 minutes for a meeting. We constantly think of making $20 than the 20 minutes to re-think our plight. We are of diverse groups, both ethnically and culturally. Our thinking, speaking and perceptions are different but our incomes are the same, bounded by the chauffeur's licenses we carry. We can meet and speak the same. As long as we think always the city is the problem, we can never take care of ourselves.
I would conclude by taking you to the reality we have to expect. Currently the whole world's economy is running towards the south. Chicago is not an exception. People are being laid off and those who are at work do not know when they would be laid off.
By this, you the cabdriver do not know if you would break even at the end of the day. Yet you need to work so you will take a gamble to lease a cab. The stress is getting high. Crime would be going up, thereby making you the easy target. Those who are not criminals will be stressed out for the cab fare and will pick up easy arguments with you. Those who want to travel by all means but have no cash will rush you with credit cards and the credit cards themselves would be stressed out so it will not go through right away.
This will force most of you to be reported to the city and the city will cite you and where necessary take the car for inspection, thereby making you spend more money to fix the car. The courts will be busy levying heavy fines to you, thereby making you spend more money that is NOT there. Think about all these things. The city is not stupid. They would allow limousines and neighborhood cabs to invade the city to make pickups to the public, then after the strike, what? The danger after the so-called strike is heavier than the no-strike crusade because, in matters like these, respect is more vital than anything else.
Fellow drivers, in times like this all you need is solitude. In times like this all you need is peace of mind. In times like this all you need is your good health, and in times like this, all you need is constant prayer from evil. You do not need to create evil for yourself. Emotions are on the rise right now because of stress and, under stress, your safety is non-negotiable. I love you so much that I want you to live and be respected. To be disrespected is death! I rest may case, at least, for now.
John Henry Assabill
