General Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: CTDU/CCO Chicago Drivers Meeting Tuesdays at 2PM

Sameer,

I think you are mixing up Anita Alvarez and Norma Reyes.

Re: CTDU/CCO Chicago Drivers Meeting Tuesdays at 2PM

Norma Reyes yES.

Re: CTDU/CCO Chicago Drivers Meeting Tuesdays at 2PM

Sameer is also mixing up the CTDU/CCO with somebody else. We haven't talked with either Norma Reyes or Anita Alvarez yet about anything. When we do, it probably won't have much to do with cabstands.

The top issues are the fare increase, credit cards, leases, and bandit cabs.

Re: CTDU/CCO Chicago Drivers Meeting Tuesdays at 2PM

SAMEER,

I think you are confused. The CTDU is not a discussion group. The CCO is. We discuss important issues.

We have not discussed cab stands at all. We have not talked to Ms. Alvarez.

What meeting with Alvarez are you talking about?

We are keenly aware of the oversupply of cabs in the city. We all drive cabs.

How do you propose that the number of cabs be reduced?

What meeting do you keep talking about? There has only been two recent meetings of the CCO. You seem confused.

We have talked about the credit card issues at both meetings. It seems to be the highest priority after the fare increase issue.

Declined cards are a problem. But, it's not 60%. You shouldn't exaggerate. The truth is bad enough.

The classes at Harold Washington should be producing better prepared cabbies, if at all, I agree. But, bad cabbies should be responsible for their behavior.

What country are you in, now? Are you coming back?

Who do you keep talking about when you say they talked nonsense issues about cabstands?

It seems that the CCO group is right in line with your thoughts. Cabdrivers need to make more money and something has to be done to make credit card transactions more acceptable and fair to drivers.

townhall meeting with REYES on NOV 10 is failure & nonsense!

whoever or whichever group it is, some cab drivers held a meeting with REYES about on NOV 10.2009 AT THE LINCOLN RESTURANT on northwest side.

If u don't know about it, read what happened about it on dec's chicago dispatcher paper.


instead of sticking to important issues like the problem of, TOO MANY CABS ON STREET, CREDIT CARD RIP OFF & THE FEES, CAB DRIVER PROTECTION LAW,

What these idiots did is listen to what she has to say to all the cabbies and discussing about need of mroe cab stands and more card machines on cabs.

That is absolutely nonsense and suhc meeting won't help any of us.

It is unbelievable and i don't know what is in mind of those!

Re: townhall meeting with REYES on NOV 10 is failure & nonsense!

I agree brother. We need better police protection, no more fees on using cards and no more too many cabs!

I lose money at glove company too many times as cards get declined too many times.

This is not working!

Re: townhall meeting with REYES on NOV 10 is failure & nonsense!

Anthony,

I agree with you. We need better protection from the police. How do you suggest we get it?

I don't think having 'no fees' on credit cards is a realistic possibility. What do you think about the proposal to allow us to charge the customer a $1 extra for credit cards?

There are too many cabs and too little business, or we aren't being allowed to charge the customers we do get enough. What do you suggest be done about this? I don't know of any plans to put more cabs on the street. I don't think we'll be seeing Chicago cab number 7000 anytime in the near future.

This is the second time I have heard about credit cards being a problem for drivers at Globe. Can you e-mail me privately at mikefoulks@rocketmail.com or call me at 773-469-7558 so you can give me a better idea?

I know George Lutfallah offered to help another Globe driver with similar credit card problems. Are you the same guy who called the radio show? He knows and can talk to the owner and management of Globe about the problem. We can do this together maybe?

-Mike Foulks

Re: townhall meeting with REYES on NOV 10 is failure & nonsense!

SAMEER,

OK, now I understand which 'meeting' you are talking about. That wasn't a CTDU or a CCO meeting. That was one of many different Chicago Dispatcher Town Hall meetings open to everybody to come listen to many different speakers talk about many different things about the taxi business.

Other speakers on other weeks were lawyers Skolnick and Rosenthal about Workmen's Compensation, lawyer Jennifer Davenport about defending cabdrivers at 400 W. Superior, labor lawyer Thomas Geoghegan about the strategy to engage and sue the City as a Union.

A Steelworkers Union Local President (Charles Gilyard) came and talked about unionizing. I spoke about fighting the bandit cab problem one week. Another week, cabdriver Greg McGee spoke about proposing comprehensive legislative reform of the taxi business by aligning with other people supporting this goal of getting the best cab industry possible for everybody, not just drivers, but for passengers too.

I personally did not attend the speech that Commissioner Reyes made, but I encouraged other people to go, and I wouldn't say that any of them were idiots. What a public appearance like that does is give cabdrivers and opportunity to ask her whatever questions they like, and help us understand how she and the Daley Administration feels about many different issues affecting us, if at all.

For example, another driver, who was came specifically about my presentation and discusssion of the bandit taxi problem, communicated this problem to the Commissioner, who was concerned. A short time later, a Front Page Chicago Tribune article appeared documenting the practice at the airports and the City's efforts at catching these impostors.

If you don't think that listening and talking to the Commissioner who has the authority to regulate our taxi business will help the taxi drivers, then what do you suggest be done to help the taxi drivers?

I invite you or any other Chicago cabdriver to come with your issues or ideas to the weekly CCO Meetings at Flaming Wok'n Grill on Tuesdays at 2PM, 903 N. Halsted.

If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

By the way, the 'CABDRIVER PROTECTION LAW' you speak of was the individual idea and successful project of a Chicago cabdriver named Steve Wiedersberg, who was once an elected CCO official. The real 'RIP-OFF' is that the 'UTCC' misleads cabdrivers into thinking that they had anything to do with Steve Wiedersberg's hard work.

Steve Wiedersberg doesn't want anything to do with the 'UTCC'. I don't want anybody but Chicago cabdrivers deciding what Chicago cabdrivers' issues are. Widersberg agrees with me on this. The 'UTCC' is influenced by and dependent on outsiders. The CCO is independent.

I agree with you. There are way too many cabs and too little business, or at least, we aren't allowed to charge what we can and should for our valuable service. I don't think that we should be forced to accept credit cards, at least not in all situattions. If we are, then the transacting of them should be fairer and less troublesome to us drivers if they want us to happily accept them.

The trick is changing the rules to better respect our rights and needs. I think that starts with us cabdrivers communicating more clearly and persistently to many different people influencing and deciding these rules.

That puts Commissioner Reyes at the top of the list. If we don't listen and talk with her, then how can we ask her to listen and talk with us?

-Mike Foulks

Re: townhall meeting with REYES on NOV 10 is failure & nonsense!

stop all nonsense and focus on reducing the number of cabs.

focus on all this nonsense credit card law like fees and cards declining at companies.

focus on getting rid of this new built in card machine in backseat that asks customer to pay by card. did u know this? i drive a globe and it had the built in new card machine, when i time off the fare, it asks customer to pay by cards so loud and now all the ti,e customers are paying by cards, which emans i get 5% rip off fee, some cards getting declined at company.

we already have manual and both automatic card machine attached on cab meters and gandolfs, now we are slapped with this new card machine right near the face of customer in back seat?

I immidiately asked my agent to change me cab without this new machine, he said he doesn't have, I told him i am not taking this cab or driving this cos I DID NOT WANT TO LET MY CUSTOMERS AND COMPANY RIP ME OFF MORE WITH THIS NEW BUILT IN MACHINE RIGHT IN BACKSHEILD-BACKSEAT!

Re: townhall meeting with REYES on NOV 10 is failure & nonsense!

Anthony,

How do you propose that the number of cabs be reduced?

I am aware of the new backseat credit card machine. Please explain how some cards are being declined at the company. What causes you to accept a credit card in your cab which is then declined at the company? Aren't you getting an approval code and a signed receipt?

I believe that cabdrivers should have the right to demand cash as payment for their services. Even if we can be required to accept credit cards, I don't believe that we should be required to do so in all circumstances. If we are, then what conditions are acceptable? We complain about the 5% fee. What would be a more reasonable fee?

Please e-mail privately about the specific credit card cashing problems you are having at Globe. I believe that George Lutfallah and I are both interested in making sure that cabdrivers get the money they are entitled to from their valuable service. This is not the first we have heard of this issue.

Right now, refusing to drive a cab with a system you object to and finding one you prefer is your best option. Many problems that drivers have with different affiliations would be solved if they walked out with their dignity and self-respect and did business with a different company.

I invite you to accompany us at the CCO Meetings on Tuesdays at 2PM to help us solve the credit cards problems and any other issues we commonly experience. None of us can tackle this on our own. We need to work together.

-Mike Foulks, mikefoulks@rocketmail.com

Re: townhall meeting with REYES on NOV 10 is failure & nonsense!

all the credit cards globe cabs don't print out with approval numbers. we are having to call the company, give the card number info and only than get the approval code or numbers.

the approval numbers shows 000000 all the time or meter attached card machine.


therefore when we go to the company to first get approval and than cash them, some cards get declined, the company says the reason could be it could be bad cards and customer may have reported the card lost just after paying the fare.


also with this new built in card machine in the back seat, everybody wants and is paying by cards now, its taking longer than cash and it is ripping me off all the tips.

it's false and not true that if u accept cards, you get better tip, no, tip is about the same but with the card payment, u lose the tip as it is about equal to 5% fee and having to drive to cab companies to cash is a hassale too.


it would be best if the card payment goes directly to driver's bank account and not having to go to companies to cash the cards.

Re: townhall meeting with REYES on NOV 10 is failure & nonsense!

Sir where are these meetings held? Is cco a drivers grou p Flash is charging me 7 percent to cash my credit is this right

Re: townhall meeting with REYES on NOV 10 is failure & nonsense!

we get ripped off by cab companies and city with these fees.


this new machine in backseat is so disgusting. it is telling customers to pay by cards all the time when i hate taking card as fare payment.

this fee is bad. people are not giving tips on this new machine.

get rid of that machine

Credit Cards suck. Make it a cash business again

Re: " If you aren't part of the solution, you aren't part of the solution."

What we got here is failure to communicate....

What we got here is Existing State Law:

Battery of an on-duty taxicab driver is a CLASS 3 FELONY, punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment.

What we got here is Proposed City Law:

"Mayor Richard M. Daley’s Taxi Safety and Security Law"

"Assault on an ON-DUTY CAB DRIVER defined – Mandatory sentence."

"There is hereby created the offense of assault against an ON-DUTY CAB DRIVER or ON-DUTY LICENSED CHAUFFEUR. A person commits assault against an ON-DUTY CAB DRIVER or ON-DUTY LICENSED CHAUFFEUR when he engages in conduct which places a person as defined above in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery. Upon conviction of this offense, a mandatory sentence of imprisonment shall be imposed, not to be less than 90 days nor more than 180 days."

If you really wanted to change things for the better, you might start by not ignoring the facts brother driver. Call, write, email, fax the Mayor, the City Council and the Commissioner" (see http://cptda.bravehost.com/)

What we got here is Matthew 15:14 (King James Version):

"Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."

Re: CTDU/CCO Chicago Drivers Meeting Tuesdays at 2PM

Questions that come to mind:

Were you recently released from involuntary detention?

Are you still a licensed driver?

Are you a danger to society?

Things that haven't changed:

Still not taking your medication.

Pretending to have an organization.

One fact:

The CCO only exists between your long ears, no where else.

Ola Shalom

Re: CTDU/CCO Chicago Drivers Meeting Tuesdays at 2PM

Replies: Yes, yes, no, what medication?, I have never pretended to "have" an organization, others pretend the CCO does not exist, Ola Shalom is a real Chicago cabdriver and you are not him.

Get real.