Yellow Cabbie Rebellion, Part 2---More Of The Untold Story Of An Unsatisfactory Revolt

There are so many corresponding implications of last week's labor action at Yellow that I barely know where to begin, starting instead with the NY Times 05/19/2019 headline article, "Driven to Despair---How Reckless Loans Devastated A Generation Of Cab Owners" by Brian M. Rosenthal, an extremely thorough examination of how New York City's taxi industry was impacted by unscrupulous banks, credit unions and other financial institutions, their questionable loan actions sanctioned, by of all people, the NYC Taxi Commission.  With 950 mostly immigrant owners losing their investments and medallions, it speaks to how the immigrant cabbie operates in a bubble not fully connected to the new and alien culture he/she finds themselves in, explaining to me what I saw in Seattle as a gross overreaction to Puget Sound Dispatch's request for prepayment for our new dispatch system.

As noted last week, PSD bears responsibility for not adequately, over the past six-eight months, updating all of us over what was occurring or not with the new system.  But it can also be said, that when PSD management did reach out to one group reporting to represent a large percentage of single owners, PSD was either ignored or misunderstood, resulting in what we saw: a misguided work stoppage hurting only the operators and our customer base.  And given that most of our customers were served minus truly serious delay, these 80-100 cabbies proved the opposite, showing they were expendable, for the most part PSD operating efficiently without them, that over capacity is our current reality. Only now is business picking up after our winter doldrums, the worst taxi season I have personally experienced.

Again, I don't fault anyone for being angry, years of abuse and stonewalling taking its toll.  But it is all important to read the situation correctly, and I see a misreading in their response.  Perhaps if I had made it to some of their recent meetings, I could have explained to them what the current situation was, and the where, why and how to what PSD was doing.  Minus real guidance, other than rumored encouragement from the Teamsters, they rashly rushed into action without the support of the remaining 300 or more single owners.  Obviously they should have attempted organizing all of us before going forward, along with alerting local media.  None of this was done.  And picking the same day Uber and Lyft was striking made no logical sense, potentially adversely impacting more customers.  While often irritating, our customers should not be made to suffer for our dysfunction.

Making bad even worse, there are reports calls were made to local school districts stating we would not be picking up students both Thursday and Friday, prompting panicked telephone calls to Yellow/PSD.  That this kind of sabotage is illegal didn't appear to stop some to disrupt operations, along with harassing drivers picking up at the schools.  I wonder if anyone knows the definition of "felony" and how getting one impacts your life?

What all this portends for the immediate future I don't know.  If anything was truly gained, I don't see it but at least single owners can now pay their nearly $700.00 in 3 payments.  And why strike over this when the much bigger issue of adding an additional 150 airport cabs is looming over us, along with the city granting this past week 25 more WAT van licenses.  Does Yellow need another 175 cabs?  Not with our current business.  Now this issue does concern me.  This requires discussion.  Along with a reduction in our weekly dispatch fees.  We need frank and honest conversation, all senseless shouting into the air unhelpful.

And if anyone if interested, in 1973, at age 19, I was fired from my job working in a warehouse when attempting to organize an union, the seamstress' in the shop making $1.00 per hour, meaning I do endorse labor actions.  I once paid the price and glad I did but your actions must be justified.  That is all I request.