“Brother, can you spare some time?”
I don’t have to tell you your job is under attack, you see the evidence everyday with more and more cabs on the road. You see the charges, the fuel fees, the constant this and that eating away at your paycheck.

….and it is not enough our wallets are under direct attack, but we have to contend with TA and Metro badgering us everyday no matter how well we drive! How much more can we take? Who is watching out for our interests?

So you may ask…where are the Unions? aren’t they the folks supposedly fighting to protect and improve our Future? sadly as we know all too well the Cabbie Unions are pretty pathetic. Some of us, maybe you too?, even suspect these two Unions, the ITPE and the USW, probably work for the
Companies and against the Drivers based on their past actions of lack there of.

So what can we do? Is the situation hopeless? not at all but we need your help.

Did you know WE can get rid of these two Unions? Yep the Law allows a window of opportunity each contract cycle for members to simply vote the current Union OUT! We voted them In, and we can vote them OUT! We are currently in this time frame at YCS where we can vote to say bye-bye to Ruthie Jones and the do-little ITPE Union. The Union which allows YCS to be charge you $12 a day for fuel but claims they pay all the fuel costs, YES <<<that Union.

Time to stand-up and make a difference Brother!

Join with us as WE take a claim for unpaid wages by Yellow Checker Star (YCS) from fuel surcharges to the Nevada Labor Commissioner! something the ITPE Union should havedone long ago!

Join with us as WE give this worthless Union the boot! WE can do better and we will do better, let’s get busy! Start by signing and returning the back of this page!

We, the undersigned drivers of Yellow Checker Star Cab Companies (YCS), located at 5225 W. Post Road, Las Vegas no longer wish to be represented by the Industrial Technical Professional Employees Unionfor the purposes of Collective Bargaining.

________________ _________________ _________ _____________

________________ _________________ _________ _____________
Sign Name            Print Name              Date         Company

The Truth About Fuel Surcharges

Since the current Collective Bargaining Agreement for Yellow Checker Star and its drivers went into effect in 2003 the Taxicab Authority (TA) has implemented 4 different fuel surcharges at various times along the way. The first of these fuel surcharges was a $0.20/trip surcharge that went into effect in Oct
of 2003 and became a permanent charge in March of 2004.The second one was also a $0.20/trip surcharge that went into effect 11-9-2004 and was made permanent on 5-20-2005.The third was a
$0.25/mile surcharge that was in effect from 5-20-2005 and made permanent on 7-1-2005.The
final fuel surcharge is the $0.20/mile surcharge that was in effect until last week.

The original CBA under Article 17 Wages states:

Section A


For purposes of this section, “net book” shall be defined as the total book reduced by fifty-five cents ($0.55) per trip plus all additional Taxicab Authority (TA) fees or any other fees imposed by a duly empowered governmental agency.

Section B

Each driver shall share in the meter and be paid the following percentage of his/her “net book” according to the length of service: The trip charge of 55 cents per trip was raised to 60 cents per trip when the Taxicab Authority raised its trip charge from 15 cents per trip to twenty cents per trip. This is right in line with the terms of the CBA as this extra 5 cents was a fee imposed by and collected by the Taxicab Authority. The airport also imposes a $1.20 fee for each cab loading at the airport. This fee imposed by the airport is properly deducted from the total book to get the “net book” that the driver is paid on as per the terms of the contract. There are no other fees that have been imposed
by any other governmental agency. A fee imposed by a governmental agency would be a fee that
the governmental agency collects. There is no governmental agency that collects fuel surcharges and therefore under the terms of the original CBA there is no room for the company to deduct fuel surcharges from the Total book.A fuel surcharge is part of the meter that the driver is to share in as laid out in section B. The Taxicab Authority sets the fares that customers pay. The fare or meter is divided up into many things, a $3.20 drop, a mileage charge and a charge based on time. And sometimes the TA adds a fuel surcharge to the meter when gasoline prices spike, but a fuel surcharge that is part of the meter does not fall under the category of a fee imposed and collected by a governmental agency.However, in March of 2005 there was an addendum to the CBA. The addendum under wages reads:Section A

For purposes of this section “net book” shall be defined as the total book reduced by fifty-five cents ($0.55) per trip plus all additional Taxicab Authority fees or any other fees imposed by a duly empowered governmental agency. (Same as original CBA so far but then the following is added)Fuel surcharges implemented (notice the word implemented not imposed is used) by the TaxicabAuthority for the purposes of assisting the companies to pay for the high cost of fuel will not beshared by the drivers.

The current Twenty Cent ($0.20) fuel surcharge will be added to each trip and will be removed if the Taxicab Authority (TA) removes the fuel surcharge.

Prior to the addendum went into effect the company raised trip charges to $0.80/trip when the first 2 fuel surcharges in 2003 and 2004 went into effect. There is no wiggle room for this in the original CBA.

IF the company had the right to keep these fuel surcharges in the original CBA then why did they need the clauses added in the addendum concerning fuel surcharges? The answer is quite simple; until the addendum went into effect on March 18, 2005 the company had no right to keep the fuel surcharges all for themselves. That’s why the clauses were added.

Figure at a 5 day work week averaging 20 trips per shift for the times the fuel surcharges were in effect and the addendum to the CBA wasn’t, I figure YCS screwed me out of $300. Take this $300 times 1500 drivers and you’re looking at approximately a half a million dollars YCS cheated out of its drivers. It is time to hold this do nothing union accountable for its actions or lack thereof. Please sign the petition so we can bring this to a straight up or down vote on whether ITPE should stay or go. You DO NOT have to be a union member to sign the petition. Think about these points

1. Why didn’t ITPE do anything about this back in 2003 when the first fuel surcharge started?

2. If ITPE had handled this properly back in 2003, would the clauses concerning fuel surcharges been added to the 2005 addendum? Would drivers have willingly taken a cut in pay? It’s easy to give away something you’re not getting, but if drivers had been getting paid would they then agree to give away fuel surcharges? How much did this cost you over the last 3 months alone?

A claim for unpaid wages in regard to the first 2 fuel surcharges has been filed with the Nevada Labor Commissioner by Checker driver Perry Butters. If he prevails in his claim this should set the stage for all drivers employed at YCS during these periods to be paid also. This is something the ITPE union should have done back in 2003. You can keep updated on this at his blog at nightintheruts.com. There is a message board available for comments and questions.

Lawsuit Brought Against Nevada Taxicab Authority (TA) for Access to Cab Co Annual Reports


By law each year the cab companies are required to file financial reports with the TA. By law these reports are public record and should be available to the public when requested. The TA has denied requests by Checker driver Perry Butters for these reports for the years 2005 and 2006 so he has filed a lawsuit in District Court asking that the TA be forced to turn over these records. You can keep updated on this case at nightintheruts.com. The financial reports for the years 2003 and 2004 are already available on the website.