Las Vegas Sun NewsTransportation:
Las Vegas taxi drivers reject contract, consider authorizing strike
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3 December 2012
12:39 p.m.
Union drivers for the Yellow, Checker and Star taxi companies have rejected a contract endorsed by the union’s bargaining committee and now will consider authorizing leaders to call a strike.
Yellow-Checker-Star, the second-largest taxi company group in Southern Nevada, has been in talks with the Industrial Technical Professional Employees union since its contract expired at the end of October.
Last month, it announced that a tentative agreement had been reached on a new contract, and officials expressed confidence the contract would be ratified by the rank and file.
But in a vote that concluded Friday, union members overwhelmingly rejected the contract. Sam Moffitt, chief shop steward for YCS and a leader of ITPE Local 4873, said more than half of the union’s membership of more than 1,200 voted, with 80 percent rejecting the deal.
A representative of the taxi group said management “was stunned by the results.”
YCS management issued a statement over the weekend speculating that a low turnout, which it estimated at 35 percent of those eligible, resulted in the contract vote failing.
Moffitt said pay and shift policies resulted in the rejection of the contract. Despite increasing meter revenue for the company, most drivers barely make minimum wage and drivers have had to appeal to government regulators to receive the hourly minimum wage, he said.
Drivers also oppose a policy change that would require them to be employed six years before they can get a four-day workweek, Moffitt said. Most drivers work 12-hour shifts four or five days a week.
The ITPE leadership said it has proposed returning to contract talks Dec. 11-15, and Moffitt said the union is awaiting a response from management.
A representative of the company wouldn’t comment on the status of returning to the bargaining table.
In the meantime, members have been asked to vote to authorize union leadership to call for job actions, including a possible strike. Voting begins Tuesday and will end at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Another union, United Steelworkers Local 711-A, has been in contract talks with Frias Transportation Management, the largest taxi company group, since Sept. 11. Those talks have been complicated by internal squabbles within the union.
Proposed changes in the seniority policy and how drivers are allowed to choose their shifts are at issue in talks between the Steelworkers and Frias management.
Fearing the prospect of the two largest cab operators facing strikes, the Nevada Taxicab Authority voted in an emergency meeting in late October to allow other companies to operate more cabs in the event of strikes at YCS and Frias.
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Don't worry about the USW they talk big but they back down. The dues mean more to them than a fair contract It's about money again.
Go on Strike and cut your own throat's
Maybe then we can get the monorail to go all the way to the airport.
It's about time the drivers stood up for themselves. They were blindsided by the Taxi Cab authority and Frias, as well as, Yellow and all the other companies last year with a 20 percent increase in cabs on the road. Which effectively reduced drivers monthly income 20 percent. Plus the huge hit the IRS took from the drivers on the Strip club spiffs which cost most drivers 35 percent of their income. Last year drivers income was down almost 50 percent from 2010.
You all are wondering why the Union members are down voting? I quit in 2011 because of this.
What is the Taxi Cab authorities answer. More cabs on the road! They are now in the breaking the Union job. A government agency? Drivers from all companies need to walk off united!
They should be asking for 8 hour work days, 30 percent fewer cabs on the road, and a full benefits package.
If you want quality drivers, you need to pay quality money. Not barely minimum wage. It is a dangerous job, it involves public transportation! We need the best people out there, not a bunch of people who are not making a living wage.