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Blown-up versions of this flyer and similar ones covered the walls of Yellow Cab in July, as part of an anti UTW vendetta conducted by a driver with the company’s blessing. The flyers were widely distributed at Yellow and the airport. Luxor Cab also posted it.

Anti-UTW Smear Campaign
Takes Root at Yellow Cab

By Mark Gruberg

Yes, I'm the guy whose mug adorns the flyer to the right, the poster boy for that corrupt and downright evil group of drivers -- United Taxicab Workers by name -- whose greedy dealings are designed to line their own pockets, at the expense of other hard-working drivers.

Doesn't quite ring true? Okay, let's set the record straight.
In short, the charges are baseless. They're part and parcel of an anti-UTW vendetta begun by a Yellow Cab driver and former UTW member. This driver has succumbed to a tactic companies have used time and again when their dominance over their workforce is challenged: the fear factor. It's a standard company ploy, all-too-familiar to anyone involved in contract negotiations.

Yellow knows UTW's lawsuit for gate overcharges has a strong chance of success, so they are trying to get us to drop it by scaring drivers into thinking it will put them out of business. And it is using its oppressive new lease to reinforce the message. Drop the lawsuit, Yellow says, and we'll discontinue the lease. UTW has refused. We believe there are other and better options to combat the lease, without abandoning valuable driver rights.

But sadly, the driver in question has swallowed the company line. Having failed to convince us to give up the lawsuit, he has resorted to lies, misrepresentations and scurrilous personal attacks.

The flyer in question is a classic smear. It has nothing to do with the lawsuit or the lease. Rather, it alludes to a settlement UTW reached with Philip and Amy Welch, children of deceased Yellow shareholder Georgette Welch. In a politically engineered decision, the Taxi Commission awarded the Welches eight medallions that should rightfully have gone to drivers.

It was a blatant abuse of authority, and one that UTW immediately appealed. But we lost our administrative appeal to the Board of Appeals, and lost again when we took the case to Superior Court. We'd also lost three times in a similar case, where the Taxi Commission gave Luxor Cab President John Lazar two permits that were formerly held by his deceased brother, Bill Lazar, Jr. (One of Bill's medallions came to him from his father in much the same way, in a decision of the Police Commission.)

We appealed the Welch case once more, but the odds were against us. Courts give enormous deference to administrative decisions, and three different commissions (Police, Taxi and Board of Appeals) had approved these types of transfers in four separate proceedings.

We also were broke. Despite some valiant efforts, our fund?raising had dried up. Every penny donated to our legal fund was spent. Had we suffered another loss, we would have been obligated to pay thousands of dollars we didn't have, and could hardly have hoped to raise.

Faced with that dilemma, we had a hard choice to make. Here is what we were thinking: if the chances of getting the medallions into the hands of applicants were marginal, how could we put them to good use for drivers in some other way?

That's when we conceived of Green Cab. It's a company unlike any other in San Francisco -- and perhaps anywhere else.

First, on account of its environmental focus. Green Cab is the first and only San Francisco taxi company to make exclusive use of low-emissions vehicles. Three of the four cabs currently in its fleet are Toyota Prius hybrids, which get the highest gas mileage of any vehicle on the market. The fourth is a Honda Civic hybrid, which is next best.

The public is overwhelmingly positive about Green Cab. Drivers naturally love the cars too, since they're saving $20-30 or more per shift over the standard, gas guzzling Ford Crown Victoria.

Green Cab's other distinctive feature is its structure. It's the only democratically organized, driver?run cab company in San Francisco. Every driver can become a member in short time and have a say in company affairs.

None of the sleazy practices that are commonplace at other companies are tolerated at Green Cab: no protection racket, no dispatch corruption, no payoffs of any kind. No gate overcharges. No illegal security deposits, or charges for accidents where the driver is not at fault. No bullying, intimidation or abuse. The company is its drivers.

Green Cab was begun by eight drivers, most but not all UTW members. Only one of its founders has a medallion. We look forward to the time when there will be 20, 50, 100 members, and possibly many more, each with a voice and a vote. We want to set an example, in San Francisco, across the nation and abroad, of how a cab company can and should be run.

The Welch settlement gave us the opportunity to start Green Cab. Up to four Welch medallions may eventually come to Green, helping the environment, benefiting the driver and serving an enthusiastic public.

Given the circumstances, was it right to have settled the Welch case? You be the judge.