Saw this article about the taxi strike and different movements, featuring George Lutfallah and the UTCC.
http://www.timeout.com/chicago/articles/museums-culture/69729/divided-and-conquered
Cabdriver Unity
This is in response to your "Divided and Conquered" story that ran in your previous issue in which you suggested that the taxi strike called earlier this month failed because of a lack of unity among drivers.
You couldn't have been more wrong. Just because the overwhelming majority of cabdrivers rejected a strike that was called by a handful of radicals led by people who don't drive cabs doesn't mean the strike failed because of a lack of unity.
The truth is that most drivers never took this strike seriously from the start. A small group that isn't taken seriously by the industry called this strike in a desperate attempt to make names for themselves as a power play to be the bargaining agent for Chicago taxi drivers. You say in your story, "The organization had even gathered 4,000 drivers' signatures on a petition supporting the strike." Did you verify this or did you just take their word for it? The people who called the strike have a history of exaggerations and telling outright lies.
Most of us never intended on striking, though most of us are frustrated with our current economic plight, just like everybody else. Those of us who have been around have learned through experience what strategies and tactics work to empower Chicago taxi drivers and which ones don't. Rather than try to learn from us, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) rejected working with us and chose only to work with cabdrivers who agreed with their extreme ideology. They excluded those who didn't. That's where the "UTCC" comes from. They are a puppet organization of the AFSC. And they claim they want unity? Nothing could be further from the truth.
They rejected the opportunity to work with those of us who knew what things work and what don't. For example, Steve Wiedersberg led a strike in 2001 that didn't accomplish much for us. Since then he has worked through the state legislature to get a law passed making it a felony to attack an on-duty cabdriver in Illinois. Steve Wiedersberg is not with the group that called the strike. Steve Wiedersberg is a member of the Chicago Taxi Drivers Union (CTDU).
Johnny Holmes is the president of the Taxi Brotherhood and hosts a cable television program for the industry. Mr. Holmes is not with them. He's with the CTDU.
George Kasp has been driving a cab for well over 30 years and is a long time activist who has lobbied for reform, even by drafting and proposing ordinance amendments to the City Council. George Kasp opposed the strike. George Kasp is with the CTDU.
Kobe Williams, a long time activist who teaches a continuing education class for Chicago taxi drivers, is not with them. Kobe Williams has been honored by the city as a Master Chauffeur. He's with the CTDU.
Melissa Callahan who called the strike last year, which had broad participation among Chicago taxi drivers, is not with them. She's with the CTDU.
Durran Liban who organized a successful strike against one of the biggest fleets in the city is not with them. Durran Liban is with the CTDU.
John Henry Assabill who is the president of the Ghanaian Cabdrivers Association is not with them. John Henry Assabill has been honored by the city as a Master Chauffeur. He's with the CTDU.
For the past seven years I have been publishing the Chicago Dispatcher, which is the newspaper for the Chicago taxi industry. I am with the CTDU.
The list goes on and on. Drivers do want changes and we now have an opportunity to get it by working to form a real union. That's the mission of the CTDU. We have hired renowned labor attorney Thomas Geoghegan to assist us with this. After I published information in the Chicago Dispatcher about Thomas Geoghegan, the AFSC attempted to contact him behind my back, in another attempt to undermine the efforts of Chicago taxi drivers to unionize.
The point is that drivers are coming together and are working to form a single union and that the AFSC is working against that for their own selfish reasons.
In spite of all the time and money the AFSC spent to market their strike, and in spite of all the media attention they got, hardly any drivers went on strike.
At the end of your story you quoted Prateek Sampat of the AFSC as saying, "The only way that we can really move the mountains that we have to deal with here in Chicago-the mountains of oppression-is if drivers realize that being organized is in the best interest of everyone." This is just talk. The AFSC has demonstrated conclusively that they're not interested in helping us organize. They want to subjugate us and negotiate on our behalf. We don't need more hands in our pockets.
Your last sentence in your story is a quote from Sampat of the AFSC, who isn't a cabdriver, saying, "We're all in the same boat."
No, we're all in the same boat. Sampat isn't a cabdriver. He's not in our boat.
Chicago taxi drivers got together and opposed the AFSC strike. How do you conclude we're not united? We are neither divided nor conquered, no matter what the AFSC tells you.
George Lutfallah
