The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 69/No. 40           October 17, 2005  
 
 
Cab drivers in southern Florida strike,
face down provocation by fleet owners
(front page)
 
BY DEBORAH LIATOS  
FT. LAUDERDALE, Florida—Some 200 cab drivers picketed outside the Yellow Cab Co. offices here October 3, protesting an increase in weekly charges for use of the cabs. The protesters faced down a provocation, as bat-wielding tow truck operators came to tow their vehicles. Daily cab protests have been held in the city and around the airport.

The drivers went on strike September 26 when company owner Jesse Gaddis raised the weekly charges. Gaddis did so after Broward County commissioners agreed to an increase in cab fares. Cab drivers have been demanding relief in face of high gas prices, insurance, and leasing payments—all costs paid by the drivers.

“We used to spend $22 on gas a day. Now we pay $55 a day. Gaddis charges us $560 per week. Before he charged $480. We couldn’t even make it on $480,” said Joseph Fleuridor.

David Norelus, a cab driver for four years, explained, “We pay $110 a week for insurance. Sometimes drivers go home with no money because on some days you only make $50 a day, which doesn’t even cover gas. One day you make $150 and nothing the next. Sometimes you wait 2-3 hours for a $6 fare.”

Cab drivers said that in 2000 they held protests around similar questions.

The cab bosses told the press they will not negotiate with the drivers association, offering to meet with the drivers individually. The bosses’ offer was met by a loud rejection by the drivers picketing outside the company’s headquarters October 3. To pressure them to go back to work, drivers said, the company hired tow trucks to haul away the cabs from their homes at night.

In a provocation during the October 3 protest, four tow trucks drove up to the site where the protesters had parked their cabs to try to tow the vehicles. They did tow one cab.

The drivers faced off the tow truck operator surrounding another cab. A fight erupted after the truck operator threw a large piece of towing equipment that damaged the car. Three other tow truck operators moved in wielding baseball bats. They threatened violence and shouted racist epithets against the strikers, the majority of whom are Haitian immigrants.

The cops, who arrived a half hour after the fight started, ordered the tow truck operators to leave. The strikers remained unintimidated.

Róger Calero contributed to this article.
 
 
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