From the Chicago Dispatcher, December 2008
Strike?
City sees no effects of UTTC's planned taxi strike.
By: Jonathan Bullington
After threatening to “paralyze the city,” the United Taxidriver (sic) Community Council's (UTTC) planned 24-hour strike came and went without effect on the city's cab service.
From 2 p.m. Sunday, November 30, to 2 p.m. Monday, December 1, cabs were plentiful at McCormick Place, downtown and both airports. Officials at McCormick Place, concerned with taxi service for visitors to the RSNA convention, reported no interruptions in service or noticeable decrease in cabs waiting in the cab line, which, for several hours late Sunday afternoon, stretched south past 26th Street on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
At O'Hare Airport, UTTC Secretary and strike organizer Peter Enger was seen leading a convoy of four cabs out of the staging area, which remained crowded throughout much of the 24-hour work stoppage, as was Midway Airport. Chicago's Department of Aviation reported 6,359 cab fares dispatched from O'Hare and 2,363 cab fares dispatched from Midway on Sunday alone.
Department of Consumer Services (DCS) Commissioner Norma Reyes said the city had not seen any effects of a cab strike, adding that McCormick Place reported having “the best Sunday evening cab service” seen in a long time.
“While the job action taken by some drivers was clearly not successful, I want to assure the industry that we remain committed to working together to solve the issues facing drivers,” Reyes said.
Even a purported member of the UTCC's steering committee chided the strike's effect. “There was no strike,” said veteran cabdriver Bob Rose, listed in the UTTC's newsletter as being a member of the steering committee.
Leaders of the UTCC claimed they were unable to estimate the number of cabs participating in their job action, even as the Associated Press cited UTTC Chairman Fayez Khozindar as saying 3,500 cabdrivers took off work. Khozindar told the Chicago Dispatcher that economic conditions, coupled with an end-of-the-month strike date, might have led drivers to work. UTTC Secretary Peter Enger added that the city's oversaturated cab numbers made gauging the strike's success difficult.
Despite this, both men believed calling for a work stoppage was the right thing to do, and stated they did not blame any of the drivers who chose to work. They did, however, have choice words for those cabdrivers who opposed a strike.
“Traitors”
On November 25, the UTCC held a rally outside the Thompson Center to announce its strike date. During its press conference, a procession of cabs arrived, stopping on the curb - horns blaring - to voice their opposition to the strike. Led by veteran cabdrivers George Kasp, Steve Wiedersberg, Johnny Holmes and Arnie Kast, as well as 2007 strike organizer Melissa Callahan, the group displayed signs reading “No Strike No!” and spoke to the media about their concerns with the possible repercussions of a strike.
Later, the group, along with Chicago Dispatcher publisher George Lutfallah, distributed fliers expressing those concerns.
“The vast majority of taxi drivers are reasonable people and understand the current economic crisis that we're all facing,” said Melissa Callahan. “Now is not the time to place more financial pressure on the public by increasing the meter rate. A small group of radicals representing a tiny percentage of cabdrivers will not be able to successfully stage a strike.”
“Commissioner Reyes has already promised that a fare increase is in the works for springtime,” George Kasp said. “A cabdriver strike is being plotted by a little community of political agitators who are frustrated at their inability to successfully organize taxi drivers. My fellow drivers, a fare increase is supposed to happen this spring. Don't be foolish in helping to ruin what's already coming to us!”
This opposition was not met well by leaders of the UTCC. Chairman Khozindar called those who vocally opposed his group's strike “traitors,” alleging they received “medallions from the city” in exchange for their opposition. However, Khozindar’s accusation appears to have no factual basis whatsoever, as none of the drivers expressing their opposition received medallions from the city in exchange for their opposition. As a point of fact, several, including George Lutfallah, Arnie Kast, Melissa Callahan and Steve Wiedersberg, are lease drivers and do not own medallions; the rest either purchased a medallion years ago or were awarded a medallion as winners of the city's “Driver Excellence Award.”
Secretary Enger also accused the opposition group of being “in the pockets of the city.” Enger claimed that the opposition drivers have said they have meetings with Commissioner Reyes. He accused them of not alerting other drivers of those meetings and of not sharing the results of those meetings with drivers. Thus, Enger questioned, “What are we supposed to think?” However, when asked point blank, Enger did say neither himself nor any UTTC member had any facts to support their claims that the drivers quoted in the opposition flier had any illegitimate dealings with the city.
