STEEL WHEELS

Taxi drivers agitated, organized

By PAUL MCMORROW

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"A rattling roller coaster, loud pop music, a blast of unfamiliar smells. It's not a nauseating carnival ride, but the typical experience in a Boston taxi cab," the Boston Globe wrote last week. "Fed up with the chronic problems of Boston cabs, members of the Boston City Council seized on a new strategy for improving the city's notorious fleet, proposing a 'Taxicab Bill of Rights' that would be posted in all taxis to empower visitors and residents alike to demand better."

"Notorious fleet," scoffs Donna Blythe-Shaw. "I took exception, and offense, to that Globe story. That word notorious, it says that every driver is held suspect, that they're bad guys. Hackney [the BPD's taxicab oversight division] does a check on them; they have training and they take a test; they're licensed by the police department. They're not criminals!"

Whether it's conscious or not, Blythe-Shaw sees anti-cab driver sentiment throughout Boston. City councilor Mike Ross's proposed taxi bill of rights, which would remind passengers of their right to a quiet, smoke-free ride along the route of their choosing, is a prime example; it focuses on rider complaints, while ignoring the conditions cab drivers work under. And so, when Ross held a meeting to hammer out the details of his proposal last week, Blythe-Shaw showed up and told him so.

"The New York Times has called taxicabs the sweatshop of the twenty-first century," she says. "Drivers work for minimum wage, and they have no rights, no voice, no appeals process. The authorities have all the power, and the drivers just have to accept what comes around." That, she believes, is about to change. Blythe-Shaw is an organizer with the United Steelworkers of America, and she's unionizing Boston's cab drivers.

"There won't be any recourse until the drivers start joining unions," she argues. "We're the ones saying, no, this is against human rights, civil rights and the law."

Because drivers in Boston are technically self-employed owner-operators, the Boston Taxi Drivers Association isn't a union in the traditional sense; rather, it's an umbrella association of professionals operating with the backing of the Greater Boston Labor Council and the AFL-CIO. Parallel groups are running in Montreal, Denver, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles; just weeks after its formal inception, the Boston taxi union already counts more than half the city's active drivers as members.

"It's an interesting idea," says city council president Maureen Feeney, who is spearheading an effort to recognize the new union, and to establish a taxi drivers' bill of rights to parallel Ross's legislation. "There are inequities in the industry, and we can make it more pleasant for passengers and a more profitable industry for these drivers."

"There's not much to be gained from helping the taxis," argues former city councilor Paul Scapicchio. "Not many people like them."

Scapicchio, who chaired the council's committee on transportation, earned his hackney license and drove a cab during the summer of 2004. He earned headlines for his foray into the business, and again when he was among those swept into the doctor's office following a hepatitis scare at Logan's taxi driver cafeteria; if there was any consolation in lining up for that painful shot, it's that the head of Massport, whom he was escorting that day, had dined with him at the cafeteria, and had to get an inoculation as well.

"It was eye opening," he says. "It was a long, tough day, and I didn't make a heck of a lot of money. It's a real tough, tough business. They haven't been a group that's been listened to over the years, because there's been no recourse for not listening to them. There's been nobody to hold anybody accountable. They haven't been a group that's got any great political force."

"If they ever decided not to play the airport, even for one day," he adds, "it would bring the city to a standstill."

There are over 1800 taxi medallions in Boston, compared to an estimated 3800 active drivers; most medallions are owned by a tiny number of individuals, so most drivers have to pay a substantial amount of money to just get on the road.

"It costs a fortune to get behind the wheel whether you own, rent or lease," Blythe-Shaw says. "Imagine having to pay $100 a day just to go to work; it's four to five hours just to cover all your costs." The job averages $10-12 an hour, and provides no benefits; with health insurance, vacation time and the cost of living factored in, the wages are barely livable, if at all. Moreover, Blythe-Shaw alleges "harassment and maltreatment" by local authorities.

It's little surprise, then, that the union plans to demand a fare increase.

"We want a livable wage," she says. "This is about workers' rights, quality of life issues, dignity and respect on the job, having a voice in their workplace and their industry. I'm not interested in having a revolution; we want a situation that benefits the drivers and the city. We're not here to cause havoc; we're here for the betterment of the drivers. But power and control are tough to give up, at any level."