On Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 2, United Taxicab Workers will sponsor a conference entitled “Driving Our Future,” aimed at developing concrete ways to strengthen cab driver rights, survive the recession, and save Proposition K.

All drivers should plan to attend. The conference will be held at Mission Cultural Center, 2868 Mission St., from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. Delegates from New York, Los Angeles, Oakland and San Jose are also expected to attend. The Asian Law Caucus is co-sponsoring the event. Topics for the open meeting will include:

• Cab Drivers’ Bill Of Rights — outlawing company abuse and intimidation;

• Surviving the Recession — sharing and brainstorming ways to build income despite falling ridership; and

• Saving Proposition K — how to save the most progressive driver program in the country against a mayor's political ambitions.

Bill of Rights: All cab drivers are familiar with screaming and other forms of intimidation -- including illegal demands for money – that many companies use against drivers. Such abuse is not just wrong, it's illegal. “The employer is liable when supervisors or managers are responsible for the hostile environment…,” says the American Bar Association Family Legal Guide. Such behavior is not tolerated in any other MTA division; it cannot be tolerated from taxi employers.

At the conference, we will create a Taxi Driver Bill of Rights to stop such abuse. To do this, we must spell out what constitutes abuse, and then propose a structure for drivers to bring grievances to the MTA.

A Bill of Rights must also provide for due process when complaints are lodged against drivers. Drivers have seen repeatedly, and been openly told, how the word of nearly any customer or boss will be taken before his or hers. As such, the Taxi Detail and MTA regularly act on complaints against drivers while there is no simple mechanism for handling driver complaints against companies.

Surviving the Recession: Business and tourist ridership have fallen in the last year while the number of conventions has dropped. The U.S. Department of Commerce recently reported that “in the first five months of 2009, visitation through San Francisco decreased 18 percent” compared to the same period in 2008. This may well be a permanent trend as global warming and diminishing oil reserves force basic changes in travel. The San Francisco Peak Oil Preparedness Task Force Report from March of this year predicted “a continuing downward trend in air travel. Travel by individual auto will also be increasingly costly. In short, leisure travel will be one of the first casualties of peak oil. The market for the remaining travelers will be extremely competitive.”

Cab drivers are on the front line of that trend, not cab companies. Companies have not lost a penny in this recession. If drivers are to survive, they will have to devise ways to make money other than just driving around looking for passengers.

Protecting Prop K: The proposed sale of taxi medallions by Mayor Gavin Newsom would destroy the incentive for San Francisco cab drivers to stay in the profession. United Taxicab Workers has fought Newsom's plan from the beginning. Chronically low wages and long hours only look to worsen, not just because of the current recession but from the continuing drop-off in business and tourist travel mentioned above.

The introduction of more taxis and greater competition for fewer dollars during this period demonstrates the cynical disdain with which a wealthy mayor views working cab drivers. Selling medallions for hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece would either hand a monopoly to the largest cab companies or handcuff drivers who invest in them for the rest of their lives. Moreover, it would cut the rug out from under the thousands of drivers who have waited years for their medallions.

We anticipate an exciting, informative and important meeting. Please try to attend and don' hesitate to pass on the news to other taxi workers.

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