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A San Francisco cabbie has proposed "Operation Taxi Poacher" as a way to fight out-of-control crimes committed by limo drivers. The concept is simple: in order to help the Taxi Detail identify illegal limos and out-of-town cabs, cabbies mark them with eggs. UTW is very skeptical about turning the limo war into an egg war. If the limos retaliate in kind, everybody loses — except, of course, the chicken farmers.

Cho Gyeong-Shik, 43, sprayed himself with paint thinner in Seoul, Korea in a demonstration of allied taxi labor unions. He threw into the air a dozen flyers that read "taxi companies should pay their employees 50 percent of the value added tax they got back from the government" before setting himself on fire with his cigarette lighter. He was immediately taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital where he was listed in critical condition with third-degree burns all over his body. Fellow unionists said that Cho has been very active and sincere in his struggle against "immoral" links between government and taxi companies. Meanwhile, police fear his suicide attempt will add fuel to a series of demonstrations by other taxi unions. UTW chair Thomas George-Williams promised not to adopt this tactic in San Francisco.

Charges have been brought against suspects in a corruption scandal based on the illegal granting of taxi driver licenses in Prague, Czech Republic. Dozens of Prague taxi drivers allegedly received their licenses through fraud. A member of the examination commission deciding on driver licenses was charged with receiving tens of thousands of crowns in bribes from a taxi service provider and taxi drivers. Drivers allegedly were allowed to choose their exam date and the place where they would take the test and were given a cheat sheet for the exam. So far nine people charged have been found guilty and punished. UTW hopes that we will never see a scandal like this in San Francisco.

The feud over a fare rate increase between Florida taxi mogul Jesse Gaddis and his drivers intensified as he began towing the cabs of striking workers. More than a half-dozen drivers said their cabs were towed from their homes in the middle of the night. The strikers are vowing to remain out as long as it takes to win a larger share of the 25 percent fare increase that the county approved because of rising gas prices. Shortly after the fare went up, Gaddis increased his charges to drivers between $50 and $80 a week. The weeklong strike by some 200 of 800 drivers has caused longer-than- normal waits for cabs and harmed service at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades. The striking drivers held a major protest outside at the Governmental Center in downtown Fort Lauderdale, holding signs with slogans such as ‘Broward County: Stop Discrimination’ and ‘Stop Slavery. Stop Yellow Cab.’ “Jesse Gaddis has all the money and doesn't want us to have any, and that's unacceptable,” said Emmanuel Succes, one of the leaders of the striking drivers.

Staff working night shifts at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Bogota, Colombia have called for more troops and police to patrol the zone and get rid of the bad guys once and for all. National Guard troops are to be deployed to remove vagrants and other suspects from the area around the terminal exit. Authorities also say they
will tighten up the rules on taxis without licenses — long a serious threat for people arriving at the international terminal. So . . . when is SFO going to stop the bad guys at our airport?