The new sletter of the United Taxidrivers Community Council CITY … March UTC… · refusal to regulate companies like Uber, allowing that company to take two million trips a month

March 2015 — Volume 8, Issue 1 1

ANOTHER VICTORY FOR LEASE OVERCHARGE CAMPAIGN!Driver wins $5780 in Restitution, Company fined a total of $35,000! BY P E T E R A L I E N G E R

Mohd A. came to us about a year ago with a stack of leases about 6 inches high. Mr. A. is a relatively new and young driver, from Palestine, and after

hearing about our previous victories helping drivers file complaints about lease overcharges at Dispatch Cab company, he decided to come to us for help.

After a thorough analysis, we decided he had a good case and advised him to go ahead and file his complaint. His complaint had to do with Dis-patch cab company practice three years ago of re-quiring drivers to sign fourteen 12-hour leases to get a weekly 24-hour cab lease from them. This is in clear violation of city rules for Taxicab Medal-lion Holders under the rules that were in place in 2006 thru July 1, 2012:

“The practice of entering into a series of leases with the same individual lessee for th purpose of exceeding the lease rate caps as set forth in para-graph (a) is also expressly forbidden. For example, a lessor may not charge more than the 24-hour rate by entering into two consecutive 12-hour lease with the same individual lessee, nor may a lessor charge more than the weekly lease cap by entering into a series of 12-hour and/or 24-hour lease with the

same individual lessee within a seven-day period.”This is the exact same violation that Dispatch

has been found guilty of numerous times over the last two years. Beginning with Sandra V.’s case two years ago, for which she received $5370 in restitu-tion, the city has won case after case against them. For most of the cases, after the drivers got a judg-ment of restitution, the company has only had a

CITY HALL ACTION HIGHLIGHTS UBER THREAT

BY C H R I S C H A N D L E R

Hundreds of cabs circled City Hall on February 17, protesting against Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s refusal to regulate companies like Uber, allowing that company to take

two million trips a month bite out of the taxi and limo transportation for hire business without investing in adequate insurance, background checks or accountability. (UberX cars are just taxis without medallions, and with little to no regulatory oversight by the city)

At a City Hall press conference that morning, mayoral challenger Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia pledged to “level the playing field” between the cab com-panies and rideshare companies like Uber if he is elected on April 7th. The UTCC had called all of the Mayoral candidates to attend and address the state of the Taxi Industry, but Mr. Garcia was the only one to attend.

The United Taxidrivers Community Council called the protest to highlight the danger that Uber is creating for the cab industry. Thousands of cab drivers have quit the industry, thousands of cabs sit empty in the garages, and hundreds of medallion owners face bankruptcy.

All this because Emanuel has allowed Uber to operate in Chicago with virtually no regulation or oversight. As a result, Uber is making millions by taking 20 per cent of fares while claiming to

have no vehicles, no drivers and no insurance li-ability. No wonder they’re making money.

Emanuel’s brother Ari, the Hollywood agent, is

Th e n e ws l e t t e r o f t h e U n i t e d Ta x i d r i v e r s Co m m u n i t y Co u n c i l

W W W . G O U T C C . O R G

CO N T I N U E D O N PAG E 6

CO N T I N U E D O N PAG E 6

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Common Sense Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

The Battle with AFSCME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

History Gets Rewritten: in Bold . . . . . . . . . . .3

UTCC and the UberX campaign . . . . . . . . . . 4

1 Cop, 3 Drivers, 9 Tickets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Call 911, Get 3 Tickets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Report on the Taxi Driver Fairness Task Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Uber, Lyft Lawsuits Could Spell Trouble For the On-Demand Economy . . . .7

Occupy the Loop Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-9

Uber Halts Low-Cost Ride Service in Seoul, Seeks to Avoid Ban . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Chinedu Madu— The Murdered Cabdriver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Financial Essentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

What You Need to Know About the Flu and Ebola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

The Case for the Universal Taxi App— City versus Cab Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

An Open Letter To George Lutfallah, Publisher of the Chicago Dispatcher . . . . . .16

Mayoral Candidate Chuy Garcia speaks at the UTCC press

conference at City Hall Feb, 17

A m e r i c a n F r i e n d s S e r v i c e C o m m i t t e e , C o m m u n i t y A l ly

Mohd A celebrates Court Victory

March 2015 — Volume 8, Issue 1

2 UNITED TAXIDRIVERS COMMUNITY COUNCIL

The United Taxidrivers C o m m u n i t y C o u n c i l (UTCC), is the name we picked over seven years

ago, when more than thirty leaders from the drivers’ community had our first meeting in January of 2008 at “Baba Palace Restaurant” in Chicago. And you see in the name the word “United” which implies unity or Union. And we wanted “Taxidrivers”—one word not two to express some of this “Unity”. Then comes the reasons behind the word “Community”, which I believe is obvious—to imply not only to the drivers themselves, but to include all the people who are related to them and to their work as drivers; workers in the companies where they lease their cabs from, mechanics in garages, etc..etc. And lastly, the word “council” which implies to the democratic principles our organization is adhering to.

On the other hand, AFSCME, which means, American Federation of State, County and Mu-nicipal Employees - A Government Worker’s Union; and “Municipal Employees” would in-clude those who write us tickets and prosecute us at 400 W. Superior hearing facility. And to clarify more, I would like to share with you

what UTCC’s Secretary Peter Ali Enger wrote about this subject. He said :

CONSIDER AND THINK ABOUT THE FOLLOWING:Your cabdriver union, the UTCC, has been in Chicago for 7 years now. We have been fighting for drivers’ rights on many different fronts, and have succeeded in many areas. We have the experience and expertise that the driver’s movement in Chi-cago needs to go forward in this new era of working with the City

for reform in the Taxi Industry. We have spent 1000’s of hours of analysis, re-

search, consultation, investigation, brainstorming, testing, meeting with drivers, meeting with city officials, meeting with other driver organizations, meeting with aldermen, and carrying out cam-paigns including rallies and strikes.

NO amount of MONEY spent by AFSCME can compare with or replace the experience we have in challenging and analyzing the TAXI INDUS-TRY here in Chicago!

When you are considering which union to sup-port and join, THINK! Simply going with the money and name of AFSCME is NOT as smart as you might think!

The PROS are, of course, AFSCME has money and is willing to spend some of it. They have re-lationships with city officials, because they are a GOVERNMENT WORKERS UNION. They have many contracts with the City of Chicago, and ne-gotiate with them all the time.

THE CONS ARE: • AFSCME workers are some of those who

write us tickets, and prosecute our cases at 400 w. Superior

• They spend money because they expect to get something in return—a big percentage of your union dollar, and numbers of member-ship to add to their rolls. One way of spend-ing money is on bringing out-of-state orga-nizers to chicago.

• Their government contracts with the city can be threatened by the mayor in negotiations

Let common sense lead you to your choice: Independence with a driver-led organization

like UTCC?Or sign over your future to a government work-

ers union to negotiate for you?— FAY E Z K H OZ I N DA R , U T TC C H A I R M A N

Our VisionTo organize and unify all licensed chauffeurs in the Chicago area, so we can collectively overcome oppression and achieve economic and social justice.

WritersFayez Khozindar, Chris Chandler, Peter Ali Enger, Rocky Orok

EditorsChris Chandler Peter Ali Enger Rocky Orok

PhotosJeff Lucas and Brittany Harthan

DesignRachel K . Dooley

We welcome your contributions feedback and letters!

United Taxidrivers Community Council 2040 N Milwaukee Ave, 2nd Floor Chicago, IL 60647

E-mail: utccchicago@gmail .com

Phone: (773) 342-UTCC

F O L L O W U S O N T W I T T E R : @ U T C C C H I C A G O

COMMON SENSE CORNER

NOTICE: Shannon Liss-Riordan, the Boston lawyer who has been battling Uber in the courts for more than three years, is looking for a Chicago cabdriver who was using the Uber App in 2012.

VERY IMPORTANT! If you know anyone who was using the Uber taxi App in 2012, or you are that person, please contact UTCC as soon as possible. Call 773-342-8822. Or you can call Shannon herself: (617) 994-5800.

THE UTCC VOICE IS SPONSORED IN PART BY

Two AFSCME organizers walking away from their car at O’Hare Staging Area


UNITED TAXIDRIVERS COMMUNITY COUNCIL 3

The Battle with AFSCMEA recap of historyBY P E T E R A L I E N G E R

Many of you have come up to us, the UTCC Steering Committee members, and asked us, “Why don’t you and the CDU/AFSCME drivers get together

and get united?” The truth is that we probably never would have been divided except that an ancient feud intervened, and the two organizations have had difficult relations ever since. UTCC has long aligned itself with the National Taxi Workers Alliance, started by cabdrivers in New York and now a network of unions in four cities. The newly formed CDU, which has no transparent structure or decision-making process, no recognized leadership body, no officers, no dues-paying membership, and no Constitution or Bylaws, has allied itself with AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a government worker’s union.

FACTS:• In March, 2014, an AFL-CIO organizer was

assigned to work with UTCC to help our organizing efforts. AFSCME lobbied with AFL-CIO to have him removed, hurting the work of UTCC.

• June-Aug.: AFSCME forms CDU/AFSCME Local 31

• On Sept. 5, AFSCME , CDU , NTWA and UTCC hold a meeting to work out our differ-ences. UTCC brought a compromise proposal: We could form an “umbrella organization”—a Coordinating Committee, with CDU and UTCC driver-leaders to communicate and strategize together and provide a UNITED FRONT when dealing with the companies and the city. CDU and AFSCME refused this suggestion. They told us, “CDU is open to membership of any UTCC members.”

Chicago cabdrivers! This is an insult to the UTCC. We have been working for reforms for seven years. We have granters and funders who we are responsible to. We are a 501C-3 Not-For-Profit organization, with hundreds of dues pay-ing members and run on democratic principles. Were we supposed to fold our tent? We believe a taxi driver organization run by drivers is the best chance for a strong union.

AFSCME lobbies against National Taxi UnionLast year the National Taxi Workers Alliance, our friends from New York, had their membership in the AFL-CIO come up for a vote for a perma-nent charter. AFSCME lobbied against this vote, and also kept filing complaints with the AFL-CIO about UTCC’s activities in Chicago, and tried to hold the NTWA responsible. That is why with great reluctance the UTCC broke off our relations with the National Taxi Union. We decided to re-main independent so we could have a free hand, and so our actions would not get the National Taxi Worker’s Alliance in trouble. Last month the NTWA was finally granted its permanent charter with the AFL-CIO.

We do not believe that AFSCME is the best fit for Chicago cab drivers. AFSCME stands for AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUN-TY AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES—A GOV-ERNMENT WORKER’S UNION. AFSCME union members are some of the government workers who ticket and fine cabdrivers in the field and at 400 W. Superior. This is a strange mix! Who does AFSCME really represent? We also believe AFSCME has not been clear about its expected

union dues. In New Orleans, the only other city where they are attempting to organize cab driv-ers, we were told they are charging $40 a month dues , and the national union collects 75 % of that.

AFSCME’s plans have hit some roadblocks in the last few months. A Federal Judge dismissed the Callahan vs. City of Chicago lawsuit, which AFSCME had hoped would turn cabdrivers into Chicago city workers. So that plan is gone. In ad-dition, the vote for a permanent charter with the AFL-CIO for the National Taxi Worker’s Alliance was successful. So now we have a National Taxi Union. It seems that AFSCME will not be able to form another national taxi union. At least, not within the AFL-CIO. We don’t know what they are telling their Core Committee driver-leaders now, but eventually their organizing project may run out of time and funds.

In the meantime, we remain open to an umbrel-la organization that could coordinate our actions. Representatives from UTCC and CDU sit on the new city Task Force. We attended the AFSCME action at City Hall last week. We are prepared to cooperate. n

HISTORY GETS REWRITTEN: IN BOLDBY S P EC I A L CO R R E S P O N D E N T

Its official! The National Taxi Workers Alliance is now a Permenant Chartered affiliate of the AFL-CIO. In an unanimous vote of the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO on Monday Feb 23rd, the NTWA

charter, first granted in October 2011, was declared permanant.

The AFL-CIO’s 2011 decision to give a charter to the National Taxi Workers Alliance with New York and Philadelphia as its first two locals, was an historic one. It was the first new charter in over 50 years and the absolute first recognition by the AFL-CIO of independent contractors as workers. In the three years since the 2011 charter, NTWA now has five affiliates. San Francisco, Austin and

Montgomery (DC METRO) are the new affiliates. Dave Passmore President of the Taxi Drivers As-sociation of Austin which was NTWA’s third af-filiate was categorical in his celebration. “Nobody ever believed that taxi drivers must be unionized or could be unionized, till New York and Phila-delphia came along. NTWA’s permanent charter is an historic door that has been opened in the labor movement. Now, we know that everybody who goes out there and labors 10 to 12 hours a day is a worker in every sense of the word. We are proud of our movement and NTWA will be the union for every taxi driver in the United States.”

Bhairavi Desai, President of the NTWA and Victor Salazar, member of the NTWA board

were present in Atlanta, GA for the charter an-nouncement.

With the charter now permanent, NTWA is now in a position to lead a national level cam-paign on the bandit taxi or the rideshare sector. “A national movement of taxi drivers is crucial as the taxi industry takes on its biggest challenge in over five decades and battles the Ubers and Lyfts. UTCC and Chicago drivers congratulate NTWA on its historic achievement. We are keen to bring Chicago drivers into the national move-ment and play our role in defeating Uber and other TNCs in partnership with our brothers and sisters from NYC to SF,” said Fayez Khozin-dar, UTCC’s Chairman. n

UTCC Steering Committee members showing solidarity at CDU Rally



UTCC and the UberX campaign

The UTCC has been trying to sound the alarm about the invasion of the “Ride-Steal” drivers and industry represented in Chicago by UberX and Lyft for over a year now. It just didn’t

make sense! How can the city allow drivers without Chauffeur Licenses, city background checks, any training, city safety inspections on their cars, and no commercial insurance to work as taxis? Not only that, but the city has given up their authority to regulate rates of fare for public transportation to a private company! (Or companies) When African-Americans on the south side do the same thing—to serve their neighbors where cabs don’t cruise the streets, to take people to the doctor, the grocery store, the bus and train stations, or to the airports--they are called “gypsy cabs”, and their cars are impounded and they are fined $1000!

For the most part, our message has fallen on deaf ears. The media does not seem to under-stand it. The politicians agree to believe the May-or and the Uber PR people, who tell us all that the “Rideshares” are not in the business of trans-portation, they are only a “technology” company. Yet they set rates of fare for transportation. They adjust them all the time, without city oversight. They charge customers for providing car servic-es. Everyone seems to be afraid of challenging or opposing this $40 Billion dollar monster, and the “technology” jobs they claim they will bring to Chicago. And so the Taxi Industry suffers, the drivers lose money to the ride-stealers, the city loses money (millions of dollars) from the col-lapse of the Medallion markets, and soon we will have no cabs to lease, because most Medallion owners will go bankrupt!

This is bad public policy. This city in particu-lar depends heavily on the Tourist and Conven-tion industries, and they need taxis to service them. No tourist wants to land at O’Hare and be told they must download an “App”, submit their credit card information to a private company, and pay whatever that company feels like charg-ing that day. The same goes for conventioneers. Is this the public face that Chicago wants to show the world? It seems this Mayor and his policies will oversee the end of the Taxi Industry as we know it. And the subsequent loss of up to 40,000 jobs that service that industry. And all to ben-efit the Emanuel family and their investments in Uber. Well, that is how this “pay-to-play” city works, historically.

Recap of UTCC UberX campaigns of the last yearLast year the UTCC attended the City Council meeting where the TNP ordinance was being de-bated and discussed. We met with many Aldermen beforehand, to educate and inform them about the true costs and disruption that would happen if the “ridesteals” were legalized. We also attempted to lobby the State legislators and the Governor to pass the more stringent legislation at the state level. All to no avail. The Uber-money prevailed, and both the State legislators and the lock-step Aldermen at City Council passed legislation that was weak and ineffective in bringing UberX and her sister com-panies, Lyft and Sidecar, under regulatory control. And so the onslaught continued. Every week we saw more and more UberX cars picking up our passengers. Right in front of us.

UberX to be Ex-UberX at Chicago airportsThe UTCC heard that Uber was trying to encour-age their UberX drivers to pick up at the airports, and we worked to inform the city to stop them. That was in May of last year. By late summer, the city seemed to realize that cabdrivers were leav-ing the industry in droves—to join the rideshare

industry—and started having meetings with driv-ers to figure out how to bring them back. The UTCC was part of that process. We told them—drivers are leaving because of TOO MUCH REG-ULATION and NOT ENOUGH MONEY. That is when they decided to adopt parts of our 10-Point Plan for Cabdriver Income Improvement, called for the passing of the Taxi Driver Fairness Ordi-nance of 2014, and created the Taxi Driver Fair-ness Task Force, to reduce regulations.

UTCC addresses issues at City Hall hearingAt the hearing at City Hall to debate the Taxi Driver Fairness Ordinance, UTCC organizers testified that while we were happy at its passing, we felt it might be “too little too late” for the Taxi Industry, unless we do something about the ride-shares. Our conclusions in this testimony can be summed up like this:

1. Yes, pass this ordinance—but consider it only a first step towards revitalizing the health of the Taxi Industry—we ALL need a LIVING WAGE, and we in the UTCC will be continuing our lobbying efforts for more income for drivers. The city recent-ly passed a law to increase the minimum wage in Chicago—but most cabdrivers work for less than minimum wage, and the city is not doing enough to improve that.

2. Second, We are calling for an update on the Nygaard study, to update and report on what the Ride-Steal industry has done to the Taxi Industry in the last two years.

3. Third, let’s all consider that we need to amend the TNP Ordinance recently passed by this city council—it is deeply flawed, and not nearly robust enough to protect our Taxi Industry nor our riding public.

UberX invasion continues— 13,000 drivers and counting!By January of this year, the situation for cabdriv-ers—and the fleet owners—was getting more and more dire. Information began to emerge. Uber claims to be “facilitating” two million fares per month in Chicago. An Atlantic Monthly article about Uber claims that Chicago has 13,000 UberX drivers working our streets. Medallion prices have

On Strike No UberX!

Feb 17 Rally of Cost of UberXCO N T I N U E D O N PAG E 1 0



CALL 911, GET 3 TICKETS

Co n s t a n t i n T . i s a R u m a n i a n cabdriver and a member of UTCC. Last year on Aug. 7, 2014, he picked up a passenger and took him on a short

ride up Western Avenue to an address on 2541 W. Fitch Ave. He asked his passenger if the street was north of Touhy and the passenger responded yes. As he passed the street, the passenger told him, “You went past my street. Let me out here. I’m not paying you.” Constantin calmly told him that he was only a half block past, and he stopped the meter to turn around and take him to his address. The passenger then told Constantin he did not want to pay and exited the cab without paying.

After a back and forth dispute for several min-utes, Constantin called 911 to report a Theft of Service, the name of the crime that passengers who leave without paying commit. Passengers can be taken to jail, if the driver insists on it. Con-stantin then followed the passenger to his home, while waiting for the police.

By this time, the passenger was offering to pay the $8 charge on the meter, but Constantin re-fused payment, instead waiting to see what the police would do. Well—we hate to say it, but the police officer who came did not behave properly. At first they asked Constantin what happened, and he told them the customer did not pay the

fare and ran away. But when they spoke to the customer, he told them that Constantin had mad remarks on his sexual orientation. He told the police Constantin had been abusive, saying racist and homophobic things. He cried. Con-stantin heard the police officer say, “You know how these immigrants are.” Constantin tells us he did not even know the young man was gay, nor did they have any conversation at all in the 10 minute ride, except to discuss the route. But the police refused to listen to Constantin at all. After telling him that he was stupid for wasting his time instead of working, yelling at him to get back in his car, and refusing to file a report for the customer running away without paying his fare—instead wrote Constantin TWO tickets! And when he objected to signing them, he got a THIRD ticket for not signing the other two!!

Luckily for Constantin, audio from the cam-era in his cab was available from the forward facing camera, and he was able to get it from his garage. He brought it to the UTCC office and we took his testimony and reviewed the tape. We took the case to the city lawyers at 400 W. Superior, but they refused to listen to the story or review the audio, and instead scheduled a hearing. We knew we had a good case, but once

1 COP, 3 DRIVERS, 9 TICKETS

Has this ever happened to you? Last summer, Mirza Baig, a cabdriver for 40 years, was sitting in the second position at the cabstand in front of the Omni

Hotel. Right behind him was a space with a “Tow Zone” sign and a fire hydrant.

A policeman, badge #13839, started to write him tickets. Mirza reports that the officer was rude and threatened to write him four tickets, but then only wrote him two—one for the Tow Zone, and one for parking next to the Fire Hy-drant. There was a Flash taxi behind Mirza, and the officer wrote that driver the same tickets. This third taxi actually WAS in the Tow Zone. When Mirza tried to get out of his taxi to take a picture, Mirza reported that the officer yelled at him, “Stay in your cab! When I tell you to get out, then you can!” So Mirza stayed in the cab until the police officer left.

When Mirza first brought us this case, we thought he had a pretty good chance to beat the tickets. The Flash taxi behind him had the same tickets for the same offense, and two cabs can-not be in the same place at the same time. But the city lawyers at 400 W. Superior do not work like that—to apply thought and logic to the mer-its of a case is not what they do. It is part of the UTCC’s Legal Plan to keep struggling with the city about this issue. What the city lawyers do is require EVERY case to go to a hearing, even when we all know they will lose, and it is a waste of everyone’s time. What we want is for there to be a review of the MERITS of a case before going to a hearing.

Luckily for Mirza, the next month we got 2 more cabdrivers getting tickets in the SAME PLACE for the SAME OFFENSES from the SAME officer! In each case, the drivers report-ed they were in the SECOND spot in the cab-stand, a completely legal spot. And they each reported that they got tickets for being in the THIRD spot, behind, next to the fire hydrant, and in the Tow Zone. The second driver got

THREE tickets, and the third driver got FOUR TICKETS! This was too much!

So—the UTCC Legal team collected all the drivers’ Incident Reports, and the tickets, and sent them to the Commissioner and her BACP staff we work with for review. We also collect-ed the UTCC members’ co-pay for the legal de-fense. It was too much to expect three drivers to have the exact same story about the exact same police officer in the exact same place. We were told to have all the cases continued to the same day, so a decision about what to do could be made at the same time.

Finally, on the day of the case for all three drivers, and a total of NINE tickets that we claim

were written wrongly by a police officer over-stepping his bounds, the city decided to dismiss all nine of the tickets!

One thing this case highlights for us is the need to struggle with, and work with, the BACP to im-prove their systems at 400 W. Superior to better defend drivers’ rights, and seek due process and justice. This is one of the things we are working on in the Taxi Driver Fairness Task Force.

[If cabdrivers have complaints or incidents to report, please come and join your Taxi Union, the UTCC, pay your dues ($120 per year, or $10 a month), fill out an Incident Report with us, and we will do what we can to address your is-sues and your tickets] n

Mirza Baig at Omni Hotel cabstand

CO N T I N U E D O N PAG E 1 1

Improving Relations with PoliceThe UTCC recognizes the need to im-prove relations with the Chicago Police Department, and has made steps to create an ongoing relationship and a structure, where both sides can work out differences and grievances . Both police and cabdrivers work on the streets of Chicago 24 hours a day, 365 days a year . By our analysis, the police work in a functional way as our super-visors . Not only do they write tickets for traffic violations, and enforce crimi-nal matters, but also enforce our work rules, the Rules and Regs that govern cabdrivers .

We are in negotiations, as part of the BACP Task Force, to establish regular meetings between police and cabdriv-ers in hopes of creating a better work-ing relationship, and working to edu-cate both the cabdrivers and the police officers about how to better interact with each other .



a major investor in Uber, the Sun-Times revealed last year. They used to call that nepotism and cro-nyism. When the first Mayor Daley steered a little city business to his son’s insurance company, he was lambasted in the press. Where is the outrage while Emanuel destroys the cab business to ben-efit the family fortunes?

The media attention our protest brought to the Uber problem is a first step, but everyone in the cab industry must realize that the re-elec-tion of Emanuel will mean victory for Uber, and bankruptcy for many in the cab industry, drivers and medallion owners alike. n

City Hall Action Highlights Uber ThreatContinued from Page 1

Another Victory For Lease Overcharge CampaignContinued From Page 1fine of $500 or $1000 to pay, and the deals were worked out in private without a hearing. Until Domingo Carino’s case of last year, where the fine on Dispatch was $16,000! (Reported in the UTCC Voice last year)

After several continuances granted to Dis-patch, Mohd was getting tired of coming to 400 W. Superior. This is exactly what Dispatch want-ed—for the driver NOT to show up, and then the case could be dismissed. But we turned the ta-bles on them in December. This time, Mohd was there, the BACP investigator was there in court to testify, and a UTCC organizer was there—but the Dispatch lawyer was not!

Our UTCC organizer, Peter Ali Enger, had been pushing the city to not keep granting con-tinuations for the company, as it was disrespect-ful to the city employees and Mr. A., who were spending their time and energy to show up to court. And this time we were successful. The city attorney decided to hold a “default judg-ment hearing”, to hold Dispatch accountable for wasting all of our time. Our argument: “You do it to cabdrivers all the time. Why not do it to the companies?” And they did it.

In December, Dispatch Cab Affiliation was found liable for a $50,000 default judgment against them! We knew it would not stick, as they would move to “set aside” the judgment, just like cabdrivers do, but it was a step in the right direction.

Last month the hearing for City v. Cavala Cab Corporation and Dispatch Affiliation was finally held. After a four and a half hour trial, Dispatch Affiliation was fined $10,200 and the Cavala Cab Corporation, the owners of the medallion Mr. A. was driving for, was fined $25,500. Mr. Alafaghani received a judgment for restitution of $5780. The city lawyer made an excellent case, and Mr. A. was a good witness in his tes-timony, and the Hearing Officer found Dispatch liable for all the charges the city brought against them. There were a total of 102 charges brought against Kavala and 51 charges against Dispatch.

We know that Dispatch is now fighting these charges, and appealing the cases to 50 W. Wash-ington. We heard all their arguments at 400 W. Superior, and we were not impressed. They do not have any legal defense for their prac-tices that violate the city ordinances we quoted above. It is annoying, and it will mean drivers waiting longer to receive their money, but after one or two losses at 50 W. Washington, we ex-pect Dispatch to go back to settling the cases out of court, like they were doing in the beginning.

Another VICTORY for CABDRIVERS, an-other VICTORY for the UTCC LEASE OVER-CHARGE CAMPAIGN! n

Feb 17 Rally–UberX show us your insurance

A N N O U N C E M E N TAny cabdrivers who believe they have been overcharged for their leases, please bring any evidence to our offices at 2040 N. Milwaukee for a review and a recommendation. Companies are required to keep leases for three years. You may petition the city for retrieval for leases even if you don’t have them, up to three years ago. We are setting up a “lease compliance team” to handle the evidence and your allegations. Even if you don’t have leases in your possession, we may still be able to assist you in processing your complaints. We are open Mon-Wed from 2-7 pm. We are also available other hours by appointment.

Call (773) 342-8822 for more information



Report on the Taxi Driver Fairness Task Force

In the lead up to the passing of the Taxi Driver Fairness Ordinance of 2014, the UTCC had many discussions with the Commissioner of DBACP and her staff. These discussions

included the need for many more reforms to the rules and regulations that govern the cabdrivers and the Taxi Industry as a whole. The main ideas we told the city were:

ONE, the city of Chicago needs a healthy and robust Taxi Industry to serve the riding public, the Tourist Industry, and the Convention Industry;

TWO, the industry was suffering because it was not keeping cabdrivers working in cabs that were available at the garages;

THREE, cabdrivers were either not staying in after going thru the training, or they were leaving and not coming back; and

FOUR, the reasons for cabdrivers not staying in the taxi business were two main reasons—not enough pay and too much regulation.

The UTCC had already addressed the “not enough pay” issue by submitting our 10 Point Plan for Cabdriver Income Improvement. The City re-sponded by accepting about 5 of our suggested re-forms. The UTCC is continuing our campaign to achieve the rest of them. Following is the 10 Point Plan, with highlights of the ones the city indicat-ed they were accepting.

1. Create “Chicago City App” to outcom-pete with rideshares, provide better service to Chicago (Central Dispatch System) (In process)

2. Charge $4 only on departure from air-ports (no more lost $2 for going to air-ports empty) (In process of negotiation with MPEA—a State of Illinois agency)

3. Increase short trips to one hour (In process)

4. Decrease maximum fine at 400 W. Su-perior (was $750—now $400)

5. Mandatory Registered Mail to drivers for complaints (must be signed for)

6. Remove straight meter rates to suburbs7. Charge $1 per each extra passenger8. Decrease lease cap 20% after first year

of use of vehicle 9. Increase mileage rate on meter to $0.20

per 1/12 mile10. Increase wait time to $0.20 per 24 seconds

Following is a list of areas we recommended the city work on reforming, improving and changing the rules and the practices that affect cabdrivers lives and income:

• Rules and Regulations for Chauffeur Li-cense holders

• Practices of enforcement by Police, BACP investigators (ticketing and treatment of drivers)

• Practices at “kangaroo court” at 400 W. Su-perior

• Practices and conditions at both airports—rule enforcement, behavior of starters, con-ditions of shelters, snack bars, availability of decent bathrooms, etc.

In response, when the city passed the Taxi Driver Fairness Ordinance of 2014 last November they codified (meaning that they mandated by ordinance) the creation of the Taxi Driver Fair-ness Task Force to work on all these issues. They seemed to be listening to UTCC and our well-thought-out suggestions and proposals!

The Task Force as it was created pulled driv-ers from five categories, to address the different kinds of interests for different modes of work. The five categories are as follows:

• 2 members from the UTCC• 2 members who are owner-operators• 2 members who are independent of other

categories• 2 members who are WAV drivers• 2 members of CDUWe in the UTCC hope that the creation of this

Task Force to reform the Taxi Industry and how it affects cabdrivers’ lives is not just a political ploy to make the Mayor look good before the elec-tion. We understand that he needs all the help he can get. We hope that whoever is elected in the upcoming election will accept the recommenda-tions created by this Task Force and work to im-plement them.

We also have the hope and desire that this Taxi Driver Fairness Task Force can be an ongo-ing entity, an advisory committee that can be a permanent fixture on the landscape of the cab-driver workforce here in Chicago. We hope that whomever becomes our next Mayor will create this permanent body, and create a process where cabdrivers can elect members to serve the func-tion of being an advisory committee of cabdrivers from our industry for the city regulatory bodies who govern our lives to such a degree. n

Uber, Lyft Lawsuits Could Spell Trouble For the On-Demand EconomyJudges allowed the lawsuits over drivers to be heard by juriesBY K AT Y ST E I N M E TZ , R E P R I N T E D V I A T I M E .CO M

The ride-app services Uber and Lyft were dealt a setback by two separate California judges Wednesday, who ruled that juries would decide the fate

of lawsuits that could have broad implications for a range of tech startups.

The lawsuits were filed by workers who allege they are misclassified as independent contrac-tors so the businesses don’t have to reimburse the drivers’ expenses like they would for employ-ees. The plaintiffs believe they’re owed money for outlays like gas, insurance and vehicle main-tenance—costs that could be enormous if juries determine they’re owed to tens of thousands of active drivers working for Lyft and Uber in Cali-fornia. The companies had sought separate sum-mary judgments dismissing the cases, but the judges in California’s North District Court denied them, saying their peers would have to determine

the status of the drivers.“This is a huge milestone and major vic-

tory for drivers in both cases,” says Shan-non Liss-Riordan, a Boston-based labor lawyer working on both cases. Her firm has brought cases on behalf of a range of low-wage workers, from Starbucks baristas to exotic dancers to house cleaners. “There’s this whole wave of companies who seem to think that they’re above the law and don’t need to comply with employment and wage laws,” she says. “They’re claiming there’s something new and different be-cause their services are provided through technology, through a smartphone … but there’s nothing new about this.”

A spokesperson for Lyft says they are not commenting on pending litigation. Uber sent TIME a similar statement. n

8 March 2015 — Volume 8, Issue 1

The UTCC would like to thank all the drivers who came out to Occupy The Loop on Feb. 17, 2015! Your support is crucial to the building of the cabdriver

Movement and the UTCC—your Chicago Taxi Union!

March 2015 — Volume 8, Issue 1 9



fallen to ZERO.

[In past years, 6-800 medallions would be sold in a year. In the last 6 months, only 6 were sold.] The city has lost millions of dollars in “transfer fees” for medallions not sold—two years ago the fees were averaging about $17,000 per transfer! Cabs are sitting empty in the company lots due to not enough drivers. Fleet owners cannot make their mortgage payments, and are facing bank-ruptcy. Medallions are being surrendered to the DBACP by fleet owners for financial relief. No one is talking about this—to educate and inform the public, as discussion in the media, by public policy makers, or even as talking points in the upcoming Mayoral election! So the UTCC decided we needed to bring this issue up for a public debate.

UTCC decides to “flip the script”—calls for industry deregulationThe UTCC consulted and surveyed many drivers about their opinions. We had been calling for more regulation for the rideshares for months now, to deaf ears. And besides, in our Task Force, we were already asking for less regulation for cabdrivers! How could we ask for more regulation for ride-shares, and less for us? We are already over-regu-lated! Why would we wish that on anyone else? So we thoroughly analyzed the UberX model of trans-portation for hire, and decided that there were certain things we liked! We decided to “flip-the-script” and call for taxi industry deregulation! We called for a Day of Action (reported on page one of this paper) and held a Press Conference on Feb. 17, 2015. Following is part of our press release:

After hundreds of cabs circled City Hall for four hours last Tuesday morning, United Taxidrivers Community Council (UTCC) held a press confer-ence where it proposed that deregulation is the only way to level the playing field between UberX and the taxi industry. “We think that if the UberX mod-el for transportation is good enough for the Mayor, the Aldermen, and the citizens of Chicago, then it should be good enough for the cabdrivers,” stated Peter Ali Enger, Secretary of the UTCC. “Deregula-tion may be the only way.”

The UTCC’s ten demands highlighted the City’s lack of regulations for rideshare companies and responded by arguing that, in order to make trans-port for hire more competitive, taxi regulations should be lifted. “Everyone knows that new regula-tions for the rideshares will never pass city coun-cil if the mayor doesn’t want them,” stated Rocky Orok, board member of the UTCC, “The mayor has a vested interest due to his brother Ari Emanuel be-ing a major investor in Uber. Since the transporta-tion-for-hire industry is already on its way toward deregulation under this mayor, we think the taxi industry should be included in this trend. It could be argued that the highly regulated cab industry has brought about a monopoly and economic ineffi-ciency, so introducing more regulations only serves to impede true and healthy competition among the players in the industry. It seems obvious that con-sumers don’t care much about those regulations.”

The demands are as follows: 1. No more Chauffeur’s Licenses for taxi drivers.2. No more chauffeur’s classes. To become a

cabdriver, people should be able to sign up, have their driving record checked, and then should be able to start driving the next day.

3. Taxi drivers should have the same back-ground checks as UberX drivers.

4. There should be no more fingerprints, yearly physicals, or drug tests for cabdrivers. Uber drivers do not have to adhere to these re-

quirements, so why should cabdrivers? 5. No more Complaint System. Remove 311

stickers from taxis. Replace them with a 5-star rating system, like Uber has. Custom-ers can rate taxis just like Uber.

6. No more bi-annual city safety inspections on taxis. Similar to Uber, “third party” inspec-tions should be done for taxis.

7. Uber sets it’s own rates of fare. Taxis should have the right to do the same.

8. Taxis should also have the right to “surge price”—tied to UberX surge-pricing.

9. Taxis should be able to carry the same “hy-brid” insurance as UberX drivers. Vehicles should be covered by commercial insurance from “log in” to “log off,” or “meter on” to “meter off ” – In between, vehicles can be covered by the medallion owner’s noncom-mercial insurance.

10. Issue 13,000 new medallions to all the trans-portation network provider (TNP) cars – OR – eliminate need for medallions altogether.

All four mayoral candidates were invited to the press conference to speak about their ideas for the future of the taxi industry in Chica-go. Only Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Amara Enyia from Alderman Bob Fioretti’s campaign were in attendance; both voiced their support for the cab industry, calling for fair competition between rideshare and taxi services.

Day of Action— Occupy The Loop! Feb. 17, 2015As reported elsewhere in this paper, our actions and the media were wildly successful! We spoke with over 15-20 reporters and hundreds of drivers participated in the Occupy the Loop action! We also began to form some points of unity with af-filiations and fleet owners that we hope will con-

tinue going forward. In preserving and defending the Taxi Industry, we have some common inter-ests. Some fleet owners even agreed to give their drivers a break if they supported and participated in our action. This is a positive step forward.

The topic of what UberX is doing to the drivers and to the taxi industry in Chicago is continuing to be addressed in the media, and we will continue to press for more attention. Our incomes and our livelihood and the future of our families depend on it. The UTCC will not let go of this issue until we citizens of Chicago can come up with some so-lution that makes sense for ALL the stakeholders.

We believe the only thing that makes sense at this point is that a Taxi Industry Fairness Task Force be created after this Mayoral election that would consist of the following—members from the UTCC, from the ITTA, from the riding public, and from the policy makers here in Chicago. We will continue to press for this Task Force to be cre-ated no matter which candidate is elected Mayor. In addition, to prevent the imminent collapse of the Taxi Industry, we believe the TNP Ordinance should be rescinded until the Task Force finishes its deliberations. At the very least, emergency leg-islation should be passed to put a cap on “ridesteal” drivers allowed to work in the city of Chicago. We cannot continue to compete with the ever-increas-ing numbers without relief. It just is not fair.

Chicago cabdrivers—let’s be clear about one thing. The city will not deregulate the whole in-dustry like we are asking for. Nor will they Ban UBERX, like other organizations are calling for. But there is a middle ground---some more regula-tion for them, and less regulation for us. That is what we can continue to work on. We need you drivers to JOIN the MOVEMENT, JOIN YOUR UNION, the UTCC to create a strong and united voice for the cabdriver. n

UTCC and the UberX campaignContinued from Page 4

Mayoral Candidate Chuy GArcia at UTCC Press Conference

Feb 17 Rally-line of cabs peace sign



again, this was a waste of everyone’s time. The next step was forward the Incident Report and the audio to the Commissioner and her staff at BACP for review.

By the time the hearing date came up, Constan-tin was tired and demoralized and took the deal, and paid a fine of $95 for a reduced charge of “not displaying Chauffeur’s License”. Which was not even true.

After the Commissioner and her staff re-viewed the audio, they reported to us that they were “shocked” at the behavior of the police of-ficer. After many months, the city finally vacated the order finding Constantin liable for the $95 fine on Sept. 11. He can now petition for a refund of that fine.

But the UTCC is not done with this case. This kind of thing happens all too often. The police officer in question needs to be told he did wrong, and his supervisors need to be informed of what he did. We will assist Constantin in filing a com-plaint with the Police Review Board to see that some small measure of justice is attained, and some small measure of consequences for the of-ficer come out of this incident. n

Call 911, Get 3 TicketsContinued from Page 5

GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!

Join the fight for rights, respect and human dignity!

Call UTCC Today! 773-342-8822

Uber Halts Low-Cost Ride Service in Seoul, Seeks to Avoid BanR E P R I N T E D F RO M R E U T E R S

Online taxi service provider Uber Technologies Inc said on Friday it would suspend its low-cost uberX ride service in South Korea, in another concession

by the U.S.-based firm trying to avoid a total ban in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

Uber said the decision to suspend the service in Seoul, effective Friday, was part of its efforts to bring its business in line with local regulations.

The service matches customers with private drivers without a commercial license, a practice South Korean regulators say is illegal and which has also angered the taxi industry.

“We stay committed to cooperate to reach a compromise with the city and taxi industry, and look forward to working together to bring regu-lated options to Seoul,” Uber said in a statement.

An official at the city of Seoul said the authori-ties would review Uber’s decision in detail before deciding on a response.

Uber has come under scrutiny in South Korea and other countries across the globe for alleged violations including using unlicensed drivers.

South Korea’s transport ministry has vowed to shut down Uber and the city of Seoul is offering rewards of up to 1 million won ($910) for people who report private or rented car drivers offering

transport through Uber.Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick and the

company’s South Korean unit have been indicted by local prosecutors for violating a local law pro-hibiting individuals or firms without proper com-

mercial licenses from providing or facilitating transportation services.

Japan’s transport ministry has also banned Uber’s pilot ride-sharing service in Fukuoka, add-ing to the a growing list of regulatory problems. n



Chinedu Madu—The Murdered Cabdriver

On Jan. 8, 2015, Chinedu Madu, a 51-year-old Nigerian cabdriver, was murdered by a passenger. We lost one of our own. Driving a taxi is one of the

most dangerous jobs in the United States, and it is always a shock when it happens to someone for some random reason, like robbery attempt by a passenger. We all feel, “Why, that could have been me! I work that street, I deliver passengers to that neighborhood!”

The UTCC was founded on principles of to-getherness, unity and commonality of all of our cabdriver workforce. We may come from more than 80 nations, we may speak more than 100 lan-guages, but we all do the same work, we all suf-fer the same indignities in our work spaces, and we all want the same things—a living wage, safe working conditions, justice, workers’ rights, and to be treated with dignity and

respect as human beings. It is always a com-mon loss when one of us is murdered in such a random, pointless and cruel way.

The UTCC reached out to the family to get ap-proval for raising funds (Chinedu left behind a wife and a five year old son) We set up a Dona-tions Page online to collect benefits for the family. And then we hit the streets.

UTCC organizers collected money from drivers all over this city—from O’Hare drivers, from Mid-way drivers, from the restaurants and cabstands downtown. We even went to the Nigerian Mosque on the northside to request donations—and col-lected $500! The drivers responded—so well! Twenties, tens, fives, fistfuls of ones, even $1 was not too little to donate. It is the spirit of the dona-tion, not the amount, and almost 100% of drivers we asked gave something. If every one of 10,000 drivers gave only ONE DOLLAR, the family would have $10,000. That was the message we took out, and we got an overwhelmingly positive response. If we don’t look out for each other, who will?

This action was in keeping with our found-ing principles. Cabdrivers do not have jobs with insurance or death benefits. At least not yet.. Yes there are some small benefits from the Workman’s Compensation fund we donate millions of dollars to every year, but they are based on our reported incomes, which as you all know are very low. So we in the UTCC try to make up some small mea-sure of difference for drivers who lose their lives in doing their jobs in our industry. n

Upper right: Rocky Orok, Fayez Khozindar and Peter Ali Enger present donation check at the wake held for Chinedu Madu on Feb. 14, 2015” “List of donors and where

donations collected” “Check for $3101 presented to family at the wake

UTCC: YOUR ORGANIZATION!a r e g i s t e r e d 5 0 1 ( c ) 3 n o t - f o r - p r o f i t o r g a n i z a t i o n

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @UTCCCHICAGO



CHICAGO CABDRIVERS! Be alert and aware where and how you are driving! Here are the locations of: Speeding Camera Locations throughout Chicago

• Abbott Park, 49 E . 95th St . • Bogan Tech High School,

3939 W . 79th St . • Burr Elementary School,

1621 W . Wabansia Ave . • Challenger Park, 1100 W . Irving Park Rd . • Chicago Agricultural High

School, 3807 W . 111th St . • Christopher Elementary School,

5042 S . Artesian Ave . • Columbus Park, 500 S . Central Ave . • Curie High School, 4959 S . Archer Ave . • Douglas Park, 1401 S . Sacramento Ave . • Frances Xavier Warde

School, 751 N . State St . • Gage Park, 2415 W . 55th St . • Garfield Park, 100 N . Central Park Dr . • Gompers Park, 4222 W . Foster Ave . • Hancock Elementary School,

4034 W . 56th St . • Harvard Elementary School,

7525 S . Harvard Ave . • Horan Park, 3035 W . Van Buren St . • Horner Park, 2741 W . Montrose Ave . • Humboldt Park, 1400 N . Humboldt Dr . • Icci Academy, 6435 W . Belmont Ave . • Jefferson Park, 4822 N . Long Ave . • Jones High School, 606 S . State St . • Lane Tech High School,

2501 W . Addison St . • Legion Park, 3100 W . Bryn Mawr Ave . • Lorca Elementary School,

3231 N . Springfield Ave . • Major Taylor Park, 970 W . 115th St . • Marquette Park, 6734 S . Kedzie Ave . • McGuane Park, 2901 S . Poplar Ave . • McKinley Park, 2210 W . Pershing Rd . • Merrimac Park, 6343 W . Irving Park Rd . • Morgan Park High School,

1744 W . Pryor Ave . • Ogden Park, 429 N . Columbus Dr . • Orr High School, 730 N . Pulaski Rd . • Park 499, 3925 E . 104th St . • Parsons Park, 4701 W . Belmont Ave . • Pickard Elementary School,

2301 W . 21St Pl . • Portage Park, 4100 N . Long Ave . • Prosser Vocational High

School, 2148 N . Long Ave . • Riis Park, 6100 W . Fullerton Ave . • Roberto Clemente High School,

1147 N . Western Ave . • Rosenblum Park, 2000 E . 75th St . • Sauganash Elementary School,

6040 N . Kilpatrick Ave . • Schaefer Park, 2415 N . Marshfield Ave . • Senn Park, 5887 N . Ridge Ave . • Sherman Park, 1307 W . 52nd St . • St . Genevieve School, 4854

W . Montana St . • St . Rita High School, 7740

S . Western Ave . • Union Park, 1501 W . Randolph St . • Warren Elementary School,

9239 S . Jeffery Ave . • Washington Park, 5531 S . Dr .

Martin Luther King Jr . Dr . • Welles Park, 2333 W . Sunnyside Ave• Broadway and Sunnyside (Target)

FINANCIAL ESSENTIALSTaxation for Independent contractorsBY RO C KY O RO K

Things you should know.You are often referred to as an in-dependent contractor when you drive a cab, limousine, UberX, Lyft, etc . What is an independent contractor?

According to the Internal Rev-enue Service-IRS, “the general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done” . To simplify it, in the context of a cabdriver, it means you decide where to lease your cab from, when to lease the cab, how long to lease the cab (12/24 hrs) and when and what days you choose to work .

As an independent contractor, you are con-sidered to be self-employed and subject to self employment tax . As a self-employed individual, generally you are required to file an annual return and pay estimated tax quarterly .

Self-employed individuals generally must pay self-employment tax (SE tax) as well as income tax . SE tax is a Social Security and Medicare tax primarily for individuals who work for them-selves . It is similar to the Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld from the pay of most wage earners . In general, anytime the wording “self-employment tax” is used; it only refers to Social Security and Medicare taxes and not any other tax (like income tax) .

Before you can determine if you are subject to self-employment tax and income tax, you must figure your net profit or net loss from your busi-ness . You do this by subtracting your business expenses from your business income . If your ex-penses are less than your income, the difference is net profit and becomes part of your income on page 1 of Form 1040 . If your expenses are more than your income, the difference is a net loss . You usually can deduct your loss from gross income on page 1 of Form 1040 . But in some situations your loss is limited . See Pub . 334, Tax Guide for Small Business (For Individuals Who Use Sched-ule C or C-EZ) for more information .

You have to file an income tax return if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more . If your net earnings from self-employ-ment were less than $400, you still have to file an income tax return if you meet any other filing requirement listed in the Form 1040 in-structions (PDF) .

How do I make my Quarterly payments?Because you do not have an employer withhold-ing these taxes for you, you are required to make quarterly estimated payments for Social Security and Medicare taxes and income taxes using Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals .

The problem with estimating your taxes is that sometimes you may estimate it too high or too low for each quarter . Not to worry, there are forms for you to fill to make the adjustments the next quarter . However, the IRS will not come af-ter you because you did not make quarterly pay-ments provided you pay your due taxes .

As a self-employed independent contractor, it is advisable to always set aside enough money to cover your taxes . The cab companies are now required to issue you a form 1099-K showing

your gross income from credit card transactions . Since the cab companies do not withhold any taxes from the payments, you are responsible for paying the SE tax and the federal and state income taxes .

It’s important to know that by law, if you are self-employed and you owe at least $1000 in taxes, you are supposed to pay your estimated taxes to the IRS each quarter and not wait until you file your tax return . If you fail to do this and end up owing taxes, you may be required to pay the IRS a

tax underpayment penalty .You have to first estimate your income in or-

der to estimate your taxes due . In order to figure out your net business income, you deduct your business expenses from your gross business in-come- mainly cash and 1099MISC . Your business expenses include your: depreciation, repairs, gas, insurance, MPEA stamps, tolls, car washes, all re-newal costs to the city and state, licensing costs, cost of training, etc . As a lease driver, you may be limited to what you can deduct since you don’t own the car . You are better off taking the stan-dard mileage rate .

It is advisable to always keep the receipts for your expenses for at least 3 years . This could be cumbersome to keep track of, especially if you have a ton of receipts . Most times, those receipts fade out with the passage of time . My advice to help you keep track is to designate a credit or debit card for all related business expenses and make copies of the receipts if you paid cash to avoid the fade off .

The IRS allows you to take these deductions or al-ternatively, you can take the standard mileage rate of 56 cents per mile driven, whichever is greater . The two amounts go on to Schedule C, which is where you calculate the net profit from your busi-ness . From your net earnings, you now calculate your SE tax . Self-employed individuals are entitled to deduct 7 .65% of their net earnings from self em-ployment before multiplying the result by 15 .3% to get the SE tax . The social security component (OASDI) is 12 .4% of SE earnings while the Medi-care component is 2 .9% making a total of 15 .3% .

Remember, you still have to pay your income tax .Now there is the new health insurance require-

ment (ObamaCare) that most Americans obtain health insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty . If you don’t have the minimal essential coverage, as re-quired under the affordable Care Act, then you have to pay the greater of $95 per adult or $47 .50 per child (up to $285 for a family) or 1% of your household income - whichever is greater . You will pay 1/12 of the total fee for each full month in which a family member went without coverage or an exemption .

In 2015, the fee increases to $325 per adult and $162 .50 per child (up to $975 for a family) or 2%of your household income . If you are receiving any tax credit to help pay insurance premiums, you are required to report it . Now due to signifi-cant cuts to the IRS, the numbers of tax audits were significantly reduced last year to the lowest level in a decade and chances are the number of audits this year could even be lower . Plan in ad-vance . Good Luck .

— RO C KY O RO K , F I N A N C I A L P L A N N E R



What You Need to Know About the Flu and Ebola

WHAT IS THE FLU?The flu is a common contagious respiratory illness caused by flu viruses .

The flu is different from a cold .Flu can cause mild to severe illness, and compli-

cations can lead to death .

How Does the Flu Virus Spread?The flu is spread mainly by droplets made when people who have flu cough, sneeze, or talk . Viruses can also spread on surfaces, but this is less com-mon .

People with flu can spread the virus before and during their illness .

Who is at Risk of Getting the Flu?Anyone can get the flu . Some people—like very young children, older adults, pregnant women, and people with some chronic health conditions like asthma, diabetes, cancer, heart and lung diseases, and kidney or liver disorders—are at high risk of se-rious complications .

Signs and Symptoms of FluThe signs and symptoms of flu usually develop within 2 days after exposure . Symptoms come on quickly and all at once .

• Fever or feeling feverish

• Headache

• Muscle or body aches

• Feeling very tired (fatigue)

• Cough

• Sore throat

• Runny or stuffy nose

How Can I Protect Myself Against the Flu?1. Everyone 6 months and older should

get a flu vaccine each year

2. Wash your hands regularly; avoid contact with sick people; avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth; and cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze

3. Use antiviral drugs (pills, liquid, or inhaled powder prescribed by the doctor) to treat your illness if you have the flu . Antiviral drugs are different from antibiotics and can shorten your illness and make it milder . They can also prevent serious flu complica-tions, like pneumonia . Antiviral drugs are not a substitute for the flu vaccination .

For more information on the flu visit: http://www .cdc .gov/flu/

WHAT IS EBOLA?Ebola is a rare and deadly disease caused by infec-tion with an Ebola virus . Sporadic outbreaks have occurred in some African countries since 1976

How Does Ebola Spread?Ebola can only be spread by direct contact with

blood or body fluids from4. A person who is sick or who

has died of Ebola .

5. Objects like needles that have been in contact with the blood or body flu-ids of a person sick with Ebola .

Ebola cannot spread in the air or by water or food .

Who is at Risk of Getting Ebola?People most at risk of getting Ebola are

• Friends and family who have had unpro-tected direct contact with blood or body fluids of a person sick with Ebola .

• Healthcare providers taking care of patients with Ebola .

• People with a travel history to coun-tries with widespread transmission or exposure to a person with Ebola .

Signs and Symptoms of EbolaThe signs and symptoms of Ebola can appear 2 to 21 days after exposure . The average time is 8 to 10 days . Symptoms of Ebola develop over several days and become progressively more severe . A person infected with the Ebola virus is not contagious until symptoms appear .

• Fever

• Severe headache

• Muscle pain

• Feeling very tired (fatigue)

• Vomiting and diarrhea develop after 3–6 days

• Weakness (can be severe)

• Stomach pain

• Unexplained bleeding or bruising

How is Ebola treated?There is no FDA-approved vaccine or medicine (an-tiviral drug) for Ebola . Experimental vaccines and treatments for Ebola are under development, but they have not yet been fully tested for safety or ef-fectiveness .

Symptoms of the virus are treated as they appear . Treatments include:

• Providing intravenous fluids and bal-ancing electrolytes (body salts)

• Maintaining oxygen status and blood pressure

• Treating other infections if they occur

For more information about Ebola visit:http://www .cdc .gov/vhf/ebola/index .html

Recent media coverage and poll regard-ing the most important public health concern in the United States right now is Ebola . Though only 2 deaths have been

recorded so far in the US, the public sees Ebola as a major threat to public health .

In reality, we are worrying too much about Ebola and too little about the flu, which is more likely to kill thousands of Americans and send hundreds of thousands more to the hospital . This is a divergent and inconsistent view of how we perceive risk . We tend to underestimate the risk of common perils and overestimate the risk of novel events . According to the CDC, more than 23 thousand people died from the flu be-

tween 1976-2007 .Unlike Ebola, for which there is presently no

vaccine, the flu can almost always be prevented, or at least mitigated, is you get a flu shot and take preventative actions . Ebola can only be spread by direct contact with blood or body fluids of an infected person, while the flu is mostly spread by contact and airborne viruses .

Many of us have had the flu at some point or the other and survived it, which gives us confi-dence that we would survive it again, however, so many adults (mostly older) and children will die of the flu this year . Given the above statistics, we should pay more attention to this dangers of the flu compared to the dangers of Ebola .

GET INVOLVED

IN THE STRUGGLE!Join the fight for

rights, respect and human dignity!

Call UTCC Today! 773-342-8822



The Case for the Universal Taxi App— City versus Cab CompaniesBY RO C KY O RO K

The UTCC wrote a proposal for a Universal Dispatch System or Taxi App (UTA) for the taxicab industry and presented it to the city as far back as 2009; however, the city disregarded

this proposal and did not act on it until the appointment of the current commissioner, Maria Guerra Lapacek. After her appointment, she took time to study and investigate the problems of the cab industry by having a town hall meeting to listen to the concerns of the cab drivers and subsequently had meetings with the different cab unions and groups to discuss and address their concerns. It was during the meeting with the UTCC that she adopted our proposal for the “Centralized Electronic Dispatch System” or Universal Taxi App and promised to put in motion the mechanism to implement it. This was way back in the summer of 2014. The ordinance was introduced in October of 2014 and we are still waiting for the outcome of the process.

The problem is that the city works like the government, and as usual, the govern-ment has a terrible track record of inefficiency. They are going to take their time to study it and maybe after 2 or more years then decide to issue a request for proposal (RFP). By then, most of the cab companies may have folded up.

On the other hand, the cab industry, as usual, is still living in the past not realizing that the in-dustry is fast changing and before too long, they may as well be history. They are very slow, like the snail, to adapt to new technology and when they do, hardly get the best product the market can offer to enable them to compete efficiently with the competition. For years, the cab compa-nies have been competing with each other for the same customer base. While such competition was

a good idea then, it’s now highly detrimental to their survival. Yet they are still stuck in their old ways and bound for liquidation if no preventive collective action is taken sooner rather than later.

They had a good idea when they formed the Illinois Trade and Transportation Association (ITTA); however, they have not been able to come up with the right strategy to combat the influx of the Transportation Network Providers. You would think this should have been a no brainer and an easy fix. However, that’s not the case. Rath-er than ignoring their differences and coming to-gether to develop a unified app to compete with the TNC’s, they are busy developing individual

company apps--e.g. yellow app, carriage app and flash app just to count a few. This absolutely makes NO economic or financial sense whatsoever. The idea of having numerous apps each of which can only hail cabs from a particular cab company is hurting the customers and the taxi drivers alike. Customers don’t want to have to download several differ-ent apps just to find one cab.

The TNC model has proven that cus-tomers want a single app that can con-nect them with any cab, with payment integration and a communication chan-nel with the driver. They don’t really care about the cab company; they just want to get from point A to B.

If they had a good consultant to work with like Uber has, they would have re-alized that the largest fleet would end up having the most pickups with shorter turnaround times resulting in more reve-nue for the driver and companies includ-

ing the non-affiliated cab drivers. Being closer to the customer will reduce the travel

time thereby reducing the cabdrivers rejection of fares, reduce gas, reduce cancellations/no-shows and improve customer relations. A lot of money has been wasted by the cab companies to devel-op their App. However, it’s not too late--they can still come together to develop a unified App from a private vendor with the right oversight rather than waiting for the city to develop one. I am op-timistic that if this done, the rideshare companies would not have the field day as they do right now because most customers, believe it or not, still prefer to ride in the good old cab with a profes-sional cab driver who knows what he is doing and where he is going. n

An Open Letter To George Lutfallah, Publisher of the Chicago DispatcherF RO M T H E U N I T E D TA X I D R I V E R S CO M M U N I T Y CO U N C I L

In your editorial of the March 2015, Dispatcher, you got one thing right: The UTCC job action on February 17 that hundreds of cabdrivers participated in was a “show for the media”. That was exactly

the objective of the protest. And it worked beyond our wildest imagination. We had more media coverage than ever before. We were interviewed by about 20 journalists within a 24-hour period regarding the harm UberX is inflicting on the cabdrivers’ economy and the Taxi Industry in general. We had a press conference in City hall that was well attended by the press and some mayoral candidates. Our action was successful enough to warrant —CBS Evening News out of New York to contact the UTCC when they were working on their story about UberX. So UTCC will get national exposure for the UberX problem here in Chicago.

Most people are aware, even if you are appar-ently not, that the introduction of UberX has re-sulted in a serious decline in cabdrivers’ income and weakened the Taxi Industry as a whole due to the city’s lax policies about the whole “ridesteal” industry. And who is even bringing it up? Who’s talking about it? Why is it not a topic in the May-oral election? The affiliations have lobbied State legislators, lobbied Aldermen, donated money to campaigns, formed PACs, hired lawyers, formed their own association to try to band together for more political muscle (the ITTA), and even filed a lawsuit against the city in Federal court to try to affect public policy—and all to no avail. No one is talking about the collapse of the taxi industry, and no one is holding the Mayor accountable for it, or even asking the hard questions. That’s the reason the UTCC decided to take the bull by the

horn and bring the conversation to the attention of the riding public, the citizens, and the voters who are responsible for electing the next Mayor. And it worked! For a whole week, everyone in the media was talking about Uber and UberX!

Let’s address the other things in your article that you misrepresented.

First of all, most of the features of the Taxi Driver Fairness Ordinance came directly from the UTCC’s 10 Point Plan for Cabdriver income improvement that we put out last summer. In our final meeting with the BACP Commissioner Guerra Lapacek, she informed us of the adoption of 5 points in our 10 point plan. We commend the commissioner for her response and bold move of adoption. She also followed up with a letter to us confirming the adoption of the plan. We are sure you’ve seen it, and have ignored it, as usu-al. Even the idea for complete overhaul and re-form of the Rules and Regulations was our idea, which found a welcome response in the office of Commissioner Guerra Lapacek. We can proudly claim credit for our reasoned proposals for how to keep cabdrivers in the taxi industry, and how to lure them back from the rideshare industry. AFSCME’s alleged political muscle had nothing to do with it. Yes, they made the announcement standing with the Mayor’s people, but that was more to do with political gamesmanship.

Secondly, drivers were loudly and angrily complaining about the UberX Ridesteal driv-ers. We feel their pain, because we are cabdriv-ers too. We started the process several weeks before by consulting and having meetings with the cabdrivers, cab associations, the mayoral candidates and the press and thereafter de-cided on a plan to have a “job action” prior to

the Mayoral election to bring this issue to the table for public debate. For your information, our date and plan was already decided upon weeks before the action, however, we decided to keep our plan secret for obvious reasons. On Jan. 28, after one of the Task Force meet-ings, we reached out and consulted a couple of CDU drivers to let them know that we have a plan in the pipeline to doing something, and we thought it would be more effective and a stron-ger action if we worked together. We thought we had an agreement. The next thing we knew, AFSCME/CDU had announced their “action” without invitation or consultation with the UTCC. For your information, our date was al-ready decided upon weeks before the action.

The AFSCME action had a major message to “Ban UberX”. One of their chants was, “UberX, Must Go!” We all know this is a message that can go nowhere as long as Rahm Emanual is still the Mayor. Everyone knows that’s not going to hap-pen, so why waste our breaths? However, we did join them in solidarity during the protest because we believe we are fighting the same enemy. So let us put a question to you. This was a question driv-ers in their picket line were asking me: Why were they not chanting, “Mayor Rahm—Must Go!”? Like we did. I’m sure the answer is obvious.

Finally, your style of writing lacks transparency and shows a lot of bias against the UTCC. You do not show journalistic objectivity as you make it so obvious that you are a spokesperson for AFSCME and UBER- your major advertisers. We strongly suggest that you thoroughly investigate, test and verify your facts before publication. Your cred-ibility is at stake.

— T H E U TCC ST E E R I N G CO M M I T T E E

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Forms of ID include:• Driver’s license• State identification card• Passport• Current utility bill, bank state-

ment, government check, pay-check stub, or other govern-ment document that shows your name and address

YOUR VOICE MATTERS!THE MAYORAL ELECTION IS TUESDAY, APRIL 7TH.

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VISIT CHICAGOELECTIONS.COM FOR A VOTER REGISTRATION LOCATION NEAR YOU.

Documents

The new sletter of the United Taxidrivers Community Council CITY … March UTC… · refusal to regulate companies like Uber, allowing that company to take two million trips a month