'It's about equity in the front seat and the back seat of the taxi'
Taxi drivers and people living with disabilities have been working together for years to bring accessibility and basic health protections to the taxi industry, and a hearing on proposed legislation last Friday brought them one step closer.
"Drivers are sixty-times more likely to be killed on the job, eighty-times more likely to be assaulted. If a driver is shot no one takes care of the family… to do something about this will cost less than a cup of coffee a day," said Ron Blount, President of the Unified Taxi Workers Alliance, in his testimony at Friday's hearing.
The State House Committee on Urban Affairs heard testimony from drivers, people living with disabilities, taxi owners and the Philadelphia Parking Authority on a bill that would create wheelchair accessible taxis and give all cab drivers worker's compensation benefits.
The packed house that heard testimony in City Hall was the result of the organizing work of the Unified Taxi Workers Alliance and Liberty Resources. House bill 1914, which is still in review by the Urban Affairs committee headed by Rep. Curtis Thomas would create 50 driver owned cabs that are wheelchair accessible, and provide workers compensation for the drivers who operate the city's 1,600 cabs.
The bill requires cab owners to cover the costs of workers compensation for the drivers. Many drivers operate cabs that are owned by individuals who hold multiple medallions - the licenses required to operate a cab in Philadelphia. The new cabs would be added to the streets through a lottery process, ensuring drivers who cannot currently afford to own cabs themselves are able help bring accessible vehicles to Philadelphia.
Liberty Resources was part of presenting a bill to add wheelchair accessible cabs in the early 2000's. This bill unfortunately was vetoed by Governor Rendell.
"We are members of the Philadelphia economy. We pay taxes like any hard working person. Getting to work for any person can be difficult sometimes. But for a disabled person we are assaulted with a barrage of bad attitudes. Hearing things like 'you are making me late for work,' or 'can't you take another bus.'" Said Damon Martin, a member of Liberty Resources.
The beginning of the hearing was delayed when people living with disabilities who needed to use elevators were denied access to council chambers. City Hall security forced members of Liberty Resources to wait for over a half hour to use a freight elevator to reach the hearing, while everyone was able to take the main elevator in minutes. Many members of Liberty Resources and the disabled community mentioned the incident at the beginning of their testimony, pointing out that such an act would not have gone unnoticed if it had been blacks and whites being segregated when entering the building. The accessibility issues at this very hearing showed the importance of this legislation and made clear just how far Philadelphia has to go in order to secure the civil rights of people living with disabilities.
Bhairavi Desai, President of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance also testified in support of the bill. She described that surveys conducted of NYC taxi drivers give a distressing tell of work in this industry. "Consider that people are laboring sixty to seventy hours a week, in back breaking conditions. The rate of high levels of lower back pain are almost universal." New York City has a taxi industry similar to Philadelphia's, and the city has already taken up this challenge. Desai also described the opportunity presented by the organizing in Philadelphia by UTWA and Liberty Resources. "At the heart of this bill absolutely is equity. If we are calling for equity for the driving public there must be equity in the driving system. If we are saying accessible we mean on every level. Whether the person is in the back seat or the front seat."
Bill Chrisner of the Disabilities Rights Council presented a number of points to improve the legislation. He proposed eighty new accessible cabs as opposed to the fifty currently in the legislation. The Urban Affairs Committee seemed to agree with the increase, and said they would look at examples from other cities.
Some points of the legislation were met by opposition from the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA), the agency which regulates the industry, and from taxi medallion owners.
The PPA prepared an amendment to the legislation calling to offer the new medallions through a bidding process based on market value instead of a lottery. Rep. Mark Cohen questioned the proposal, "I assume many of the existing drivers would be able to get it through the lottery but not through the bidding process." Vincent J. Fenerty, Jr. of the PPA attempted to justify the proposal, saying that drivers could use the medallions as financial collateral for bank loans or other business deals.
The cost of a medallion has gone from $60,000 to $250,000 in the past four years, and in the same period, it's become 40% more expensive to lease a cab from a medallion owner, according to Blount. He explained that bidding out the medallions would be detrimental to both drivers ability to afford operating their cabs and accessibility to the riding public. "The driver has no incentive to leave center city and pick up someone who will go three blocks. Way this bill is written now will get the job done," Blount stated, calling on the committee to not incorporate the PPA's amendment.
The other issue under debate was who should pay the costs for workers compensation. Alex Friedman, secretary of the Philadelphia Taxi Association launched an argument against owners having to pay for workers compensation. "No medallion owners pays their wages or assigns their jobs. We don't tell the drivers to fill their tanks, tell them to be at the stadium or the airport. And medallion owners are not responsible for workers compensation. Why all of a sudden cabbies become an employee and owners become an employer?"
Taxi drivers are independent contractors, and as such are not covered by national labor law requiring their employers to provide workers compensation. In Philadelphia, drivers take home an average of $4.17 an hour, while about two thirds of medallions are owned by a handful of individuals, who profit off the work of the drivers. New York City is just one of several municipalities that have mandated that medallion owners provide workers compensation to their drivers.
At the close of the hearing, the Urban Affairs Committee promised to take these issues under close consideration. If the bill passes the committee, it would then have to gain majority support in the PA State Senate and House. UTWA and Liberty Resources plan to keep organizing to see the legislation through. If you would like to support their work you can sign on to this petition and also donate to either organization.
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Photos by Pat Grugan
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