Unions claim violations of Taxi drivers’ 12-hour day?
In a desperate attempt to gain attention, the Unions claim violations of taxi drivers’ 12-hour day at Taxicab Authority Meeting.
First off if this is happening, the percentage of those involved could hardly be having any effect on the overall statistics. I work for Frias Transportation and can tell you this is a very minor issue not worthy of a SUN news article. The math simply does not compute. The numbers of violators would be way too small to move the numbers. I would be amazed if even 2% of the drivers are routinely working more than 12 hours.Second, TA does not “monitor” Trip Sheets. They are held at the cab company properties and TA only “audits” a small percentage and does so at their discretion. The article made it seem like TA “would know” and that is not so unless they were told to watch for it. Brock Croy is floating a CYA and Karla Hiropolous is using this little known fact as somehow proof TA knows but is looking the other way in this newspaper article.
TA is entrusted to “serve the public good and need for taxi service”. In a nutshell this means their goal should be the almost elimination of anybody having to wait for taxi service (standing in a line waiting for a doorman to extract a buck is not considered waiting). This obligation is what the Public thinks, what Politicians think, what the Casinos think, what Newspapers and Reporters think. All of them assume TA manages the amount of taxis on the street based on the community’s need for service, wrong.
Now the TRUTH is this…TA manages the allocation of Medallions (the amount of cabs on the street) based on the SLOW TIMES, not the busy as most assume. Their goal is to put as many cabs on the street as they can and keep the average wage of the cabbie “just above” Federal Minimum Wage. I would submit this activity is done with the full knowledge and gudiance of the Cab Owners and is done at TA by FT analysts like this Kelly Kruzik. Consider the TA Board Members as the Public, living under the MYTH their job is to service the public.
TA can do this because they have the shift stats and know most drivers NET about 40% of their shift meter dollars as their base wage. They also know most shifts are 12 hours so it is simple math and the process does not have to be completely accurate as they are managing into a “general bracket” of wage knowing they cannot perfect the number and doing so would only draw attenttion to what is afoot. It is easier to defend a potential wage claim suit in Court if you have average stats showing drivers ARE making $ at the levels required by Federal law.
How do you know this is true? Well ask yourself this…..Is there anybody in this business who truly believes one could ever put enough cabs on the street to eliminate any and all lines when we have an Event or Convention with attendance beyond say 40,000? That is what TA uses as justification for medallion increases and floats to the Public thru the Media, that the increase in cabs is necessary to address increased need from these special events. What they fail to tell people is, even putting 250 cabs on the street, or a 1000 is barely going to make a dent in the huge increase in need.
Most of us understand the problems with moving people at this point is not about not having enough cabs…the issues are about Traffic, Roads, putting Casino employees out in the middle of Rush Hour along with Event schedules which do the same, and the sheer fact there is no driver financial incentive to go out of their way to target a special event over any other ride.
TA plays a PR Allocation game which hurts drivers and benefits few beyond the Cab Owners.
It is no Coincidence the floor of our earnings tracks the minimum wage. This is so because TA has the trip stats and manages the fleet using the FMW as the base to manage from. It is hard to allocate if your goal is servicing an Event with “basic estimates of attendance and assumptions x amount of these people will use a taxi x amount of times while here”. It is far easier to manage medallions using KNOWN trip statistics and having a specific number to shoot for…FMW of drivers.
Truth is, people wait for Taxis during big Events. I would submit THERE IS NOTHING WRONG with that. Thinking otherwise is a MYTH floated by people wanting to create a diversion and take attention away from their true intentions and actions. I think we all need to be aware of this and put this MYTH to bed. You are never going to be able to move a Rodeo,a CES, a News Years crowd without significant waiting on the part of those attending. It has little if anything to do with how many cabs are in Las Vegas.
It is no Coinicidence most taxi drivers make federal minimum wage, or close to it, many days and nights. This happens because TA is managing that to happen. The MW is the base they work from when deciding how many more cabs can they add to the street and still keep drivers above the payline.
So please get rid of this nonsense TA cares a damn about Medallion increases based on some perceived demand by the public. They do not care, they care about keeping drivers at FMW, not if Sally from Iowa gets a cab or Bill in Aliante gets one either. If they did they would move to get rid of doorman, make at least ONE public taxistand in Clark County, and address the sorry state of affairs regarding cab service for locals.
