City Hall Action Highlights Uber Threat by Chris Chandler
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
WWW . GOUTCC . O R G The newsletter of the United Taxidrivers Community Council CITY HALL ACTION HIGHLIGHTS UBER THREAT BY CHRIS CHANDLER undreds of cabs circled City Hall on February 17, protesting against Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s refusal to regulate companies like Uber, allowing that company to take Htwo million trips a month bite out of the taxi and limo transportation for hire business without investing in adequate insurance, background checks or accountability. (UberX cars are just taxis without medallions, and with little to no regulatory oversight by the city) At a City Hall press conference that morning, mayoral challenger Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia pledged to “level the playing field” between the cab com- panies and rideshare companies like Uber if he is elected on April 7th. The UTCC had called all of Mayoral Candidate Chuy Garcia the Mayoral candidates to attend and address the speaks at the UTCC press state of the Taxi Industry, but Mr. Garcia was the conference at City Hall Feb, 17 only one to attend. The United Taxidrivers Community Council called the protest to highlight the danger that Uber is creating for the cab industry. Thousands All this because Emanuel has allowed Uber to have no vehicles, no drivers and no insurance li- of cab drivers have quit the industry, thousands operate in Chicago with virtually no regulation ability. No wonder they’re making money. of cabs sit empty in the garages, and hundreds of or oversight. As a result, Uber is making millions Emanuel’s brother Ari, the Hollywood agent, is medallion owners face bankruptcy. by taking 20 per cent of fares while claiming to CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 ANOTHER VICTORY FOR LEASE INSIDE THIS ISSUE OVERCHARGE CAMPAIGN! Common Sense Corner .................. 2 Driver wins $5780 in Restitution, Company fined a total of $35,000! The Battle with AFSCME ................. 3 BY PETER ALI ENGER History Gets Rewritten: in Bold ........... 3 ohd A. came to us about a year ago UTCC and the UberX campaign .......... 4 with a stack of leases about 6 inches high. Mr. A. is a relatively new and 1 Cop, 3 Drivers, 9 Tickets ................ 5 Myoung driver, from Palestine, and after Call 911, Get 3 Tickets .................... 5 hearing about our previous victories helping drivers file complaints about lease overcharges at Dispatch Report on the Taxi Driver Cab company, he decided to come to us for help. Fairness Task Force ...................... 7 After a thorough analysis, we decided he had Uber, Lyft Lawsuits Could Spell a good case and advised him to go ahead and file Trouble For the On-Demand Economy .... 7 his complaint. His complaint had to do with Dis- Occupy the Loop Photos .............. 8-9 patch cab company practice three years ago of re- quiring drivers to sign fourteen 12-hour leases to Uber Halts Low-Cost Ride Service get a weekly 24-hour cab lease from them. This is in Seoul, Seeks to Avoid Ban ............. 11 in clear violation of city rules for Taxicab Medal- Mohd A celebrates Court Victory Chinedu Madu— lion Holders under the rules that were in place in The Murdered Cabdriver ................ 12 2006 thru July 1, 2012: Financial Essentials ..................... 13 “The practice of entering into a series of leases same individual lessee within a seven-day period.” with the same individual lessee for th purpose of This is the exact same violation that Dispatch What You Need to Know About exceeding the lease rate caps as set forth in para- has been found guilty of numerous times over the the Flu and Ebola ....................... 14 graph (a) is also expressly forbidden. For example, last two years. Beginning with Sandra V.’s case two The Case for the Universal Taxi App— a lessor may not charge more than the 24-hour rate years ago, for which she received $5370 in restitu- City versus Cab Companies. .15 by entering into two consecutive 12-hour lease with tion, the city has won case after case against them. the same individual lessee, nor may a lessor charge For most of the cases, after the drivers got a judg- An Open Letter To George Lutfallah, more than the weekly lease cap by entering into ment of restitution, the company has only had a Publisher of the Chicago Dispatcher ...... 16 a series of 12-hour and/or 24-hour lease with the CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 Amer ican Friend s S e r v ice C o mmittee , C ommunity A l ly March 2015 — Volume 8, Issue 1 1 2 UNITED TAXIDRIVERS COMMUNITY COUNCIL COMMON SENSE CORNER he United Taxidrivers what UTCC’s Secretary Peter Ali Community Council Enger wrote about this subject. (UTCC), is the name we He said : Tpicked over seven years CONSIDER AND THINK ago, when more than thirty leaders ABOUT THE FOLLOWING: from the drivers’ community had our first meeting in January of Your cabdriver union, the UTCC, 2008 at “Baba Palace Restaurant” has been in Chicago for 7 years now. Our Vision We have been fighting for drivers’ in Chicago. And you see in the To organize and unify all licensed name the word “United” which rights on many different fronts, and implies unity or Union. And we have succeeded in many areas. We chauffeurs in the Chicago area, so we wanted “Taxidrivers”—one word have the experience and expertise can collectively overcome oppression and that the driver’s movement in Chi- not two to express some of this achieve economic and social justice. “Unity”. Then comes the reasons cago needs to go forward in this behind the word “Community”, new era of working with the City which I believe is obvious—to imply not only for reform in the Taxi Industry. Writers to the drivers themselves, but to include all the We have spent 1000’s of hours of analysis, re- people who are related to them and to their work search, consultation, investigation, brainstorming, Fayez Khozindar, Chris Chandler, as drivers; workers in the companies where they testing, meeting with drivers, meeting with city Peter Ali Enger, Rocky Orok lease their cabs from, mechanics in garages, etc.. officials, meeting with other driver organizations, etc. And lastly, the word “council” which implies meeting with aldermen, and carrying out cam- Editors paigns including rallies and strikes. to the democratic principles our organization is Chris Chandler adhering to. NO amount of MONEY spent by AFSCME can On the other hand, AFSCME, which means, compare with or replace the experience we have Peter Ali Enger American Federation of State, County and Mu- in challenging and analyzing the TAXI INDUS- Rocky Orok nicipal Employees - A Government Worker’s TRY here in Chicago! Union; and “Municipal Employees” would in- When you are considering which union to sup- Photos port and join, THINK! Simply going with the clude those who write us tickets and prosecute Jeff Lucas and Brittany Harthan us at 400 W. Superior hearing facility. And to money and name of AFSCME is NOT as smart as clarify more, I would like to share with you you might think! The PROS are, of course, AFSCME has money Design and is willing to spend some of it. They have re- Rachel K. Dooley lationships with city officials, because they are a GOVERNMENT WORKERS UNION. They have many contracts with the City of Chicago, and ne- gotiate with them all the time. We welcome your contributions THE CONS ARE: feedback and letters! • AFSCME workers are some of those who write us tickets, and prosecute our cases at United Taxidrivers 400 w. Superior Community Council • They spend money because they expect to 2040 N Milwaukee Ave, 2nd Floor get something in return—a big percentage of your union dollar, and numbers of member- Chicago, IL 60647 ship to add to their rolls. One way of spend- ing money is on bringing out-of-state orga- E-mail: [email protected] nizers to chicago. Phone: (773) 342-UTCC • Their government contracts with the city can be threatened by the mayor in negotiations Let common sense lead you to your choice: Independence with a driver-led organization Two AFSCME organizers like UTCC? walking away from their car Or sign over your future to a government work- at O’Hare Staging Area THE UTCC VOICE IS ers union to negotiate for you? —FAYEZ KHOZINDAR, UTTC CHAIRMAN SPONSORED IN PART BY NOTICE: Shannon Liss-Riordan, the Boston lawyer who has been battling Uber in the courts for more than three years, is looking for a Chicago cabdriver who was using the Uber App in 2012. VERY IMPORTANT! If you know anyone who was using the Uber taxi App in 2012, or you are that person, please contact UTCC as soon as possible. Call 773-342-8822. Or you can call Shannon herself: (617) 994-5800. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @UTCCCHICAGO March 2015 — Volume 8, Issue 1 UNITED TAXIDRIVERS COMMUNITY COUNCIL 3 The Battle with AFSCME A recap of history BY PETER ALI ENGER any of you have come up to us, the UTCC Steering Committee members, and asked us, “Why don’t you and the CDU/ AFSCME drivers get together Mand get united?” The truth is that we probably never would have been divided except that an ancient feud intervened, and the two organizations have had difficult relations ever since. UTCC has long aligned itself with the National Taxi Workers Alliance, started by cabdrivers in New York and now a network of unions in four cities. The newly formed CDU, which has no transparent structure or decision- making process, no recognized leadership body, no officers, no dues-paying membership, and no Constitution or Bylaws, has allied itself with AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a government worker’s union.