Boston Taxi Drivers Need a Raise
A new report released this week by Community Labor United - a coalition of labor and community organizations whose mission is to "protect and promote the interests of working class communities in the Greater Boston region" - indicates that Boston taxi drivers need a fare increase and other reforms to be able to keep pace with "rising gas prices, rising living costs and stagnant fares." The report also found that drivers need to work 16 hours a day in difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions to make a minimum-wage living.
In an attempt to improve their lot, Boston taxi drivers with the Boston Taxi Driver's Association - a new labor organization under the auspices of the United Steelworkers Union - submitted a taxi meter rate increase request to Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis in March.
The Boston Police Department, which regulates the taxi industry through its Hackney Carriage Rules and Regulations, then held a rate hearing this Tuesday at Roxbury Community College which was attended by over 300 drivers and their supporters. It's worth noting that only 5 drivers were allowed to speak during the 5 1/2 hour hearing ... and, strangely, not allowed to display the financial graphs and diagrams they had prepared.
According to the CLU report "Running on Fumes: Boston Taxi Drivers Struggle to Make a Living," Boston taxi mater rates have not increased since 2002. In that period, the City's cost of living has increased by 22 percent, and gas prices have increased by 170 percent from $1.49 to over $4.00 per gallon, with gas prices continuing to rise weekly.
Drivers say that Boston taxi meter rates are lower than other nearby cities like Chelsea, Brookline and Cambridge, and that they are not keeping pace with other major U.S. cities. The drivers are now working for much less than the $8/hour minimum wage in effect since January, and many of them have to work for 72 hours a week or longer to make even a basic living.
Preliminary data from CLU's recent survey of taxi drivers found that the 600 Single Owner/Operators in Boston have to work an average of 94 hours a week to make $5.63 an hour in pre-tax earnings (after costs). The 700 Lease Medallion drivers work an average of 75 hours a week and make $5.12 an hour. The 2500 fleet cab Shift Drivers (who rent both the taxi and the medallion) work an average of 85 hours a week and make only $3.44 an hour.
One driver justifiably calls his work "urban sharecropping," as drivers are unable to make enough to support their families. Given the key role drivers play in the functioning of Boston's tourist and convention industries - and the critical transportation service they provide to many people without cars or easy access to main subway and bus line - immediate redress is needed.
To alleviate the difficult situation of Boston taxi drivers, the BTDA is calling for the following reforms: a 15 cents mater-rate increase, an annual meter-rate review, the creation of a Mayor's Task Force for Hackney Reform, and the extension of the meter-rate zone to a 20-mile radius from Boston. If implemented, the drivers believe the reforms will result in better wages over the long term and more reasonable work hours.
Open Media Boston applauds the work of the Boston Taxi Drivers Association and Community Labor United on this issue, and encourages our viewers to support the just struggle of taxi drivers to make ends meet by contacting Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis and telling them to agree to the terms of the BTDA's proposal. The taxi drivers are facing tough opposition from the local taxi companies owner's association and consultants to the City of Boston; so every call helps.
If you'd like to go the extra mile in support of the drivers, the Boston Police Department will still be accepting written testimony for the next several days.
To contact Mayor Menino, check out http://www.cityofboston.gov/contact/?id=55.
To contact Commissioner Davis, check out http://www.cityofboston.gov/Police/contact.asp.
The submit testimony in support of Boston taxi drivers, call the Boston Police Department's Hackney Unit at 617-343-4475 for more information.
If you'd like to talk to the Boston Taxi Drivers Association, call 617-268-1171, and Community Labor United can be contacted via their website at http://massclu.org - where a PDF version of their report will be available soon.
