Taxi cab drivers to begin voting on five-year pact

Drivers at Las Vegas' second-largest cab company begin voting on a proposed five-year contract today while talks grind on between the largest company and a union local in disarray.

The drivers represented by the Industrial Technical Professional Employees Union will hear details of the proposed pact with Yellow-Checker-Star that include a mix of changes from their deal that expired in September. After four meetings with members, voting will conclude on Friday afternoon.

Both union officials and management at Yellow-Checker-Star, which has one-fourth of the 2,409 medallions, the cab operating permits issued to Las Vegas companies, declined to comment on the details of the agreement. Out of 1,740 drivers on the Yellow-Checker-Star payroll, approximately 1,300 belong to the union.

Notices of the meeting listed several gains, including: two more unexcused sick days without penalty; boosting the annual safety bonus paid to drivers by as much as $75; increasing the annual bonus pool shared among drivers from the current $310,000 to $380,000 in steps; offering health insurance coverage after six months on the job instead of nine and increasing the company's 401(k) match from 1.75 percent to 2 percent.

Drivers will advance to the second pay step in 12 months instead of 18, but all other levels will remain unchanged. Compensation is not a straight hourly rate, but based on a formula that splits the amount of fares collected during a shift between drivers and the company and subtracts certain expenses.

In one drawback, drivers will have to wait six years to become eligible for four-day week if they opt for 12-hour shifts; currently, the four-day week is available regardless of the length of tenure.

The current contract expired at the end of September but has been extended temporarily since then.

Meanwhile, United Steelworkers Union Local 711-A was taken over by the international office last week amid dissatisfaction by members that surfaced in April. At a Tuesday night meeting with about 60 members, union subdistrict director Manny Armenta said that what is termed an administratorship would likely continue for several months while a union commission sorts through what happened and decides when the local could stand on its own again.

The union counts about half of the 1,900 drivers at Frias Transportation Management as members. With 710 medallions spread among five cab brands, Frias has about 29 percent of the market and is about 18 percent larger than Yellow-Checker-Star at 603 medallions.

The Frias contract expired Sept. 11, but has been extended mostly and a day-to-day basis since then. A proposed contract that significantly diluted the role of seniority in such matters as choosing shifts and assignments to newer cars was defeated by 99 percent of those voting on October 16, leading to continued talks that have not yet led to a new deal.

"We are making good progress," said Frias chief operating officer John Hickman. "I anticipate an agreement in a short period of time."

Armenta said the unions's Frias unit president Yonus Tessema has been empowered to continue talks.

But this comes against a backdrop of several drivers contending since spring that former Local 711-A president Hussein Abdelgilil had appointed allies to other local posts without following the proper election procedures. This led, among other things, to rifts between the local hierarchy and the Frias negotiating term and even changing the locks on the union office.

Sarah Hall, one member of the negotiating team, has collected enough signatures to authorize a strike, although the Arementa's negotiating stance means that a walkout would be unsanctioned.

Given the possibility of a strike at either Frias or Yellow-Checker-Star, the Nevada Taxicab Authority voted Oct. 31 to allocate as many as 30 medallions to the other companies in order to keep the visitor industry moving. Yellow-Checker-Star supported the move, but Frias claimed it was unneeded because it had drawn up an undisclosed contingency plan.

Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at
toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.