Transportation

Cabbies get stiffed

by Kristen Lombardi

Glenn Kulbako has found out what it's like not to be in the driver's seat. For several weeks, Kulbako, a commissioned cab driver at Red Cab, and 100 of his fellow employees have wondered whether their jobs will be sacrificed with the sale of Red Cab in Brookline to its former competitor, the Bay State Taxi Service.

Last week, the workers' nightmare seemed to come true.

On August 2, shortly before the scheduled August 8 sale, Bay State proprietors met with 100 or so Red Cab drivers, radio dispatchers, and telephone operators to discuss the future of their union-approved positions. Though all workers were told they can "re-apply" for their jobs, commissioned drivers can do so only by agreeing to give up their employee status and become "leased." Unlike commissioned cabbies, leased drivers are independent contractors who rent cars from companies while paying for maintenance, gas, and radio equipment. These drivers keep 100 percent of collected fares, but they don't receive perks like health insurance, pensions, and workers' compensation.

At Red Cab, 22 of the company's 175 drivers have enjoyed employee status, most of them veterans of more than 15 years. Bay State is an all-leased-driver operation.

The latest news has stunned the Red Cab commissioned drivers, and a handful of them walked out of last week's meeting in protest. "We're shocked," Kulbako says. "We'd been led to believe employee drivers would be kept in place."

The anxiety among Red Cab employees dates back to June, when Carol Sawyer Parks, daughter of taxi magnate Frank Sawyer, announced that she wanted out of the transportation business and planned to sell off company assets -- including Checker Cab and Town Taxi in Boston, as well as Red Cab in Brookline.

To avoid liquidation, Red Cab employees, represented by Teamsters Local 504, spent much of this summer negotiating with Parks to try to keep not only their jobs, but also 115 licensed taxis on the road. "We know the town depends on taxi service," Kulbako says. "We wanted to make sure someone would be there [for residents]."

Local 504 reps secured an addendum to the Red Cab purchase-and-sale agreement that states that the buyer will recognize existing bargaining units and their contracts. (The dispatchers' contract expires in January; the cab drivers' is up in 2002.) Bay State has signed the agreement but not the addendum -- prompting the union to charge that Bay State has reneged on a promise to Red Cab employees.

"It appears Bay State will pull the rug out from under these employees," claims Dave Robbins, Local 504 treasurer and negotiator for Red Cab employees. If Bay State disregards the union contracts, Robbins vows, he'll take the matter to the National Labor Relations Board -- that is, if the 504 membership doesn't flee first.

Indeed, some employees have started looking for jobs at the few cab companies that still hire commissioned drivers. Others are debating whether to leave the taxi industry entirely.

"People are nervous," Robbins says. "We don't know how the transition will all shake out; the future is uncertain."