It is time for decision in the Chicago taxicab industry:
The City of Chicago is building its case for more and higher fees, fines and taxes, moving toward imposing harsher penalties, more expensive "technology" equipment requirements and more pervasive enforcement to keep its wheels greased with taxicab workers’ hard-earned cash.
City attorneys and Hearing Officers continue to extort money out of practically every hapless driver and owner that falls into their clutches with bold faced threats -- paying exorbitantly high fines and fees unless one cuts a quick deal for a slightly lower fine -- as their sole negotiating tool.
The City of Chicago is demanding access to on-board GPS information for enforcement and fine collection purposes – business data (before GPS existed) that was always considered as a driver's personal and private information.
Spurred by a nod and wink from the folks at DCS, owners are demanding a raise in lease rate caps.
In response to the drivers’ petition and to the recent wildcat work stoppage, and to preliminary “talks” the City folks have shown their public relations mastery by rolling out a disingenuous campaign to claim that the burden of proof of the necessity of an increase rests on the shoulders of the taxicab workers.
The City law requires that drivers submit information that has been legally and traditionally for IRS eyes only and considered as personal and as private as one’s vote – just for the City to consider reviewing a fare increase.
The way the rest of the U.S. economy rises or falls is irrelevant to the City of Chicago lawmakers who control the rates. The “show us what you got” mentality continues to be the rule and the law of the day.
Melissa Callahan, the ostensibly new, self-proclaimed taxicab workers’ general with no record and her crew is trumpeting mythical “success” in the streets, will seek to recruit as many taxicab troops in action as she thinks the she can sustain without disintegrating.
We’ve seen it all before ladies and gentleman.
Success in the streets does not necessarily convert to victory in City Hall. Her success in the streets seems to have blinded all too many to the very clear and ever-present danger that the petition system is essentially broken. It is the City’s tool, not the taxicab drivers’ or owners' tool.
How is it broken? Well, it only works in favor of the City. There is no legal requirement that the City must negotiate any matter brought before it – or keep its word on an agreement that may be reached. There is no “binding arbitration” requirement that the City can be held to in dealings with taxicab workers. And the city can stall any request indefinitely without penalty.
All too many drivers continue in their adamant belief and trust that the City will do right by them -- and they may even act against their own best interests because of their false faith in authority.
However, even if every licensed chauffeur signed the petition, the City still has the absolute power to say “NO, NO, NO.” And they will.
For the moment, some taxicab drivers and owners appear to have made the business calculation that they have no choice but to stand with their newly-anointed general and her crew.
Their zealots have been overenthusiastic about the supposed progress wrought by the so-called “strike.”
In reality they are towing the City line: Organize, take off a day without pay, sign the petition and we will get back to you -- or maybe not." In reality they are tools of the City.
And the City maintains monetary and absolute control of the taxicab industry. Most of the vulnerable owners are keeping their heads down – rightfully and prudently so.
This is a recipe for continued mismanagement, misdirection and extortion of the taxicab industry, which will squander more lives and resources while bolstering the City’s iron grip on taxicab workers’ and owners’ wallets.
The City of Chicago, through its Commissioner, has already signaling pre-emptive action to stop the movement dead in its tracks, like it has successfully done numerous times in the past.
There was talk about developing an equitable system of rights, duties and remedies of taxicab workers codified in a set of city laws to break this iron grip and give the drivers an even break, a level playing field in the direction of their lives and jobs.
In the run-up to the last showdown with the City, taxicab worker activists called on the City to provide a surcharge or interim meter increase for drivers who had been experiencing record losses due to record high fuel costs.
Alderman Allen and Commissioner Reyes said little, and did not even reveal what they would do until they announced to the public that they saw no basis for a an increase of any kind, they did not see "popular support" for an increase and the drivers had not met the burden of proof.
Will that old trick work again? Any action or undertaking by taxicab drivers within the present system – a system that is owned and operated by the City -- is more likely to fail than to succeed.
It is not through any fault or short-comings of the purported leaders or their organizations. It is because the system was designed by and for the City for its own benefit – to rake in millions of dollars per year from taxicab drivers and owners -- and to keep drivers just a step away from litigating many of the issues and "grievances" at stake.
It is time to lead.
Those who hope to capture our hearts and minds, and indeed, some of our hard-earned cash must demonstrate an undeniable capacity to lead; superlative clarity in opposing the many inequities the City’s mob-like rule; and an unwavering commitment to bringing about the necessary changes that will improve our lives and our lot.
It is time not simply to stand and be counted; it is time to lead our colleagues, our brothers and sisters who are faltering with every passing day.
Can any leadership rally taxicab workers while putting conflicted City officials on notice that there will be a big price to pay in continuing to support the current system of management -- or mismanagement and misdirection -- for the sake of a few million dollars more in the City coffers?
It can not be stated often enough or loud enough: Leadership in this debate is a central criterion for the success of the taxicab workers’ rights movement.
Any would-be leader of the taxicab workers’ rights movement will have to face the pro-City rule, pro-big fleet dominance, anti-workers’ rights players who will bring into question the movement’s validity and legitimacy, if they cannot simply ignore our issues, our problems, our demands, our requests, our leaders and our petitions.
Moreover, the movement’s flag-bearers will have to make a compelling case, not just to the City , but also to the taxicab riders of Chicago about why this misbegotten occupation of our industry and workplace must be brought to an end.
If a would-be leader can’t rally his or her colleagues now, then little can be expected in the campaigns ahead.
If a would-be leader of the taxicab workers’ rights movement can’t enlist the support of over-worked and under-paid drivers strapped with a most unpopular system of laws, rules and regulations in support of most unpopular beneficiaries of that system, then any claim that he or she knows how to get things done or can usher in a new era of change will be called into question.
Taxicab workers and owners universally want leaders who can win.
But no would-be leaders can win unless they can carry the argument against the “old system” of fines, fees and disincentives as well as carry the argument for a “new system” of legally enforceable laws to the taxicab drivers and owners.
Over the next weeks and months, we will find out just who are up to that mission and who is not.
It is time to lead.
Respectfully submitted by:
Wolfgang J. Weiss
Member, Board of Managing Directors
Chicago Professional Taxicab
Drivers Association
