Las Vegas Sun NewsTaxicab Authority considers measures in event of strike
Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumbleWednesday
31 October 2012
11:14 a.m.
The Nevada Taxicab Authority has scheduled an emergency meeting today to consider cab allocations to blunt the impact of a possible driver strike.
The meeting was called to consider a request from Whittlesea Blue Cab and Henderson Taxi, companies that are part of the Bell Transportation Group, for temporary cab allocations in the event of a strike.
Union taxi drivers in a contract dispute with the Frias Transportation Management group overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement in a vote earlier this month and authorized union leaders to call a strike.
United Steelworkers Local 711-A represents about 1,800 Frias cabbies who drive for ANLV, Virgin Valley, ABC Union, Vegas Western and ACE Cab companies. Frias is the largest cab operator in Southern Nevada.
At issue are proposed changes in the company’s seniority policies. The union said 99.5 percent of its members rejected management’s proposed contract.
Drivers are working under a contract extension after the previous agreement expired Sept. 11. The extension allows drivers to continue working under the previous contract while talks proceed, but the vote also gives the union leverage by allowing its negotiating committee to call a strike.
Frias representatives have been silent about the status of negotiations, while the union was frustrated that a scheduled meeting of bargaining agents last week was canceled by the company.
Cab drivers have gone on strike and demonstrated in Las Vegas in the past over various issues.
In February, off-duty cab drivers slowed traffic on the Strip for three hours to call attention to new allocations of cabs that resulted in fewer fares for the larger number of drivers.
In 2011 and 2008, drivers staged similar demonstrations over the allocation of additional licenses for cabs.
Share
Join the Discussion:
Previous Discussion:
Discussion 1 comments
Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.
Most Popular
- New Las Vegas Strip arena to cost $350 million
- Here’s why hundreds of wannabe murderers are roaming our streets
- Sin City? Blog says the title rightfully belongs to St. Louis, not Las Vegas
- Company preparing to sell tickets for Las Vegas party train
- On tap for LV council: Olympic Garden rooftop pool, new retail near Mob Museum and energy codes
So the current drivers demand no one else be allowed to compete? Open it up and let anyone open a cab that wants one. End the allocation of permits and let open competition solve the problem.
The best last and final offer by Frias Management is a veiled attempt to remove the union and replace it with all the highest booking drivers in Las Vegas lured over from other companies. Simply put the Frias Management group wants to pay more than anyone else for the time being and use cab assignements as incentive to book more and stay on top of the booking curve. This will in effect canabalize other companies highest performing drivers (honest and dishonest alike) and allow Frias Management to slowly eleminate senior union employees through attrition. This is very clever and also quite transparent to the rank and file drivers.
Is this an example of making the middle class stronger? Cab drivers and teachers unions seem to be getting them a better life. No real concern for those who they affect so not sure how that helps the other class of people.