With deadline past and no help from airport officials, taxi drivers take message to the public

***MEDIA ADVISORY FROM TEAMSTERS 117 AND WORKING WASHINGTON***

Drivers begin reaching out to travelers as they consider next steps 

More than 24 hours have passed since airport taxi drivers delivered a petition calling on the publicly-owned Port of Seattle to take immediate action to ensure all drivers have a fair shot at making ends meet, and Port officials have failed to respond to the drivers' concerns. As a result, leaders of the Western Washington Taxi Cab Operators Association and community allies will begin to take action Wednesday morning by reaching out to travelers for their support at all airport skybridges.

After paying for insurance, gas, leases, and a license to pick up passengers at Sea-Tac, drivers start off each week owing as much as $1000 — which means they effectively have to pay to work. But instead of helping give taxi drivers the opportunity to rise out of poverty, the Port is stacking the deck against them, making it even harder for them to make ends meet. The public outreach today is the next step chosen by drivers after they delivered hundreds of signatures on a unity petition that called on the Port of Seattle to take immediate action to enforce their own rules so that drivers have a shot at making ends meet.

When: TODAY — Wednesday, July 18, 2012, 10:00 am

Where: Sea-Tac airport skybridges between the terminal and the parking garage. 

What: Airport taxi drivers and community allies reach out to the public for support in their effort to get the Port of Seattle to make sure all drivers have a fair shot at making ends meet.

Airport taxi drivers provide a crucial transportation link for thousands of Sea-Tac passengers each day, but many struggle to make ends meet despite working as long as 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. For months, they have tried to get the people who run our airport to enforce the airport's own rules governing ground transportation, so that travelers have choices and drivers have a fair shot at making ends meet.

While the Port has so far failed to respond to appeals for fair treatment, drivers remain hopeful that a show of public support will convince the elected officials who oversee our airport to do what they can to make sure every job at our airport is a good job. If the Port still fails to take action, drivers may choose to take further steps.

More information about poverty-wage jobs at our airport: Taxi drivers are among the thousands of workers who bring home only poverty wages for the vital and critical work of keeping Sea-Tac moving, including the people who get your bags from the ticket counter to the plane, make sure the aircraft cabins are clean, assist people in wheelchairs so they make their flights on time, and pump thousands of gallons of jet fuel into the planes. Airport workers are joining together to call on the elected officials who run our airport and the corporate players who profit from their work to say it's time to make every airport job a good job. 

For more about Teamsters 117, the Western Washington Taxi Cab Operators Association, and Working Washington's campaign to make every job at our airport a good job, visit teamsters117.org, TeamsterTaxi.org, and itsOURairport.org

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Taxi Drivers drive home a message to the Port of Seattle.

By Nate Jackson Selah Mohammed, a taxi driver sporting sunglasses and a light blue button up shirt, spoke to the gathered media as tourists stood in line to board the cruise ship outside of the Port of Seattle’s headquarters on Pier 69.

“We, the taxi drivers, are part of this airport,” he said. “We provide a great service and we take pride in the work we do. We want the Port to solve this problem and enforce their own rules.”

Taxi drivers have a hard time making ends meet. Most of the cabbies start the week in a $1000 hole due to fees and regulations and have to dig themselves out before they make anything they can take home to their families. They already have enough challenges just to break even and now the Port of Seattle is making it harder by not enforcing its own rules that govern ground transportation at our airport.

And don’t forget, it is our airport. Our airport is publicly owned and ran by the Port of Seattle. The Port is supposed to make sure that the airport works for the workers and customers alike and so far they have been failing the taxi drivers.

Sea-Tac Airport taxi cab drivers are fed up with the Port of Seattle’s lax enforcement of its own rules. They have tried to get the Port to respond for the past three months to no avail so they formed the Western Washington Taxi Cab Operators Association, which has never been done before at Sea-Tac Airport and sent a small delegation to deliver a letter the association created demanding the Port follow its own rules.

The letter, authorized by the hundreds in the taxi driver association, is addressed to the executives of the Port of Seattle who oversee the operations of the airport. The simple demand is for the Port do its part and follow its own rules.

Selah Mohammed continues.

“We are here to deliver a letter to Tay Yoshitani, the CEO of the Port of Seattle,” he said. “We are working hard every day to help this airport work and we follow the rules. We just want everyone else to follow them too.”

This isn’t about taxi driver vs limo driver. It is a direct appeal to the Port of Seattle to make sure that everyone follows the rules and is on an equal basis so that the “competition” can be on a level playing field. The taxi drivers just want a fair chance as they have always abided by the strict rules that the Port created.

After all it is our port, publicly owned, and if it is truly supposed to be an economic engine for the region, it needs to make sure that all the players can get out of first gear.

Another driver, Paul Singh, came forward as he pointed to the over sized copy of the letter.

“We are bound to follow the rules,” he said thumbing at the letter. “The Port is going around their own rules like they don’t matter. It’s not fair and we want it to stop.”

Passengers should have the choice in what transportation they take when they arrive at our port. Competition, when done fairly, is a good thing that drives workers to provide better service and gives customers choice. The problem is that other transportation options are not being forced to follow the stringent rules that cabbies are and this hurts the competitiveness of the taxi drivers. Taxi drivers should have a decent shot at making a living.

“We just want the competition to be fair.” he said. “We’ve formed an association and we are all in this together.”

After answering some questions from the gathered reporters the dozen taxi drivers entered the Port of Seattle Headquarters and asked to speak with Tay Yoshitani. The person at the front desk informed them that Yoshitani was not in, but she called up an executive to speak with them.

The taxi drivers delivered the letter and the signatures to an executive named Tomm Munroe, thanked him for his time and went back outside to answer more questions from the press.

The drivers don’t want anything special. All they want is fair treatment and the Port of Seattle to play by its own rules. The ball is in the Port of Seattle’s court now. Let’s see what they do.

No one expects to get rich driving a taxi at Sea-Tac Airport. Nobody should expect to be driven into poverty either.

By Nate Jackson It's hard to believe, but it's true: after lease fees, licensing costs, taxes, insurance, gas, and maintenance, taxi drivers who pick up passengers at our airport start the work week as much as $1000 in the hole. That includes money they pay to dispatch companies like Yellow Cab and a weekly fee of more than $300 they have to pay to the Port of Seattle in order to pick up passengers at Sea-Tac.

Taxi drivers are technically classified as “independent contractors,” but in addition to the weekly fee they pay, they must follow detailed rules in exchange for the right to pick passengers up at our airport. Cabbies have set prices they cannot change, a set place to park, set rules on how they cannot approach or solicit customers, and tight rules on the appearance and condition of their taxis. They even have to follow a dress code that is written by the Port of Seattle.

These rules are created by the Port of Seattle and they are supposed to benefit the customers and taxi drivers alike by ensuring orderly & reliable service for travelers. Unfortunately, the Port of Seattle is failing to enforce the rules that they themselves set up.

For-hire limousines have suddenly been allowed to expand their services at the airport and solicit passengers, which confuses travelers and undercuts taxi cab drivers. There’s plenty of room for a wide variety of transportation options at the airport, from taxi and and limos to light rail and buses. Choices are a good thing, but the problem is that the Port of Seattle is not holding up its end of the bargain. The way they're handling the situation is unfair, and it make things even harder for taxi drivers who are just trying to make a living.

For months, taxi drivers have raised these issues to public officials, asking the Port to simply enforce their own rules regarding transportation service in the airport. Still, the Port has done nothing to address the problem and ensure all drivers have the opportunity to make a decent living at our airport.

Taxi drivers don’t expect to get rich. They just want a chance to provide for themselves and their families and continue to provide the vital services many passengers rely on. This shouldn't be complicated: it’s our port, it’s publicly owned, and it’s time the people who run the Port of Seattle lived up to their mission by making sure every job at our airport is a good job.

At this point the cabbies, have nearly exhausted their options, so they are starting to take collective action on their own. The taxi drivers are united and are ready to ready to take action to ensure they are treated fairly. It’s time that the Port of Seattle did the right thing: enforce the rules so that travelers have options and drivers have a shot at making a decent living.

Taxi cab drivers may engage in work stoppage over Port of Seattle's failure to enforce regulations at Sea-Tac

***MEDIA ADVISORY FROM TEAMSTERS 117 AND WORKING WASHINGTON***

Delegation of taxi drivers & community leaders to deliver petition calling on Port to enforce their own rules

The Western Washington Taxi Cab Operators Association will demand on Monday that the Port of Seattle enforce its own rules governing ground transportation at our airport. To protest unfair conditions, taxi cab operators may engage in a work stoppage, and this could disrupt ground transportation for tourists, businesspeople, and other Sea-Tac travelers.

When: Monday, July 16, 2012, 2 pm

Where: Port of Seattle headquarters: Pier 69, 2711 Alaskan Way, Seattle, WA 98121

What: Faith and community leaders join taxi cab drivers to call on the Port of Seattle to enforce its own rules. They will hold a press conference explaining the situation before delivering a unity petition signed by hundreds of taxi drivers to Port of Seattle CEO Tay Yoshitani.

Taxi cab drivers provide a crucial transportation link for thousands of Sea-Tac passengers each day, but many struggle to make ends meet despite working as long as 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. After paying for insurance, gas, leases, and airport pick-up fees, drivers start as much as $1000 in the hole each week — money they have to earn back before they see a cent in their pockets.

Recent actions by Port of Seattle management have made things even harder for these drivers — the Port is allowing other transportation providers to undercut taxi services, creating confusion for travelers and pushing drivers further into poverty. These actions by the Port are also in direct violation of the rules the Port itself has established to ensure reliable & efficient ground transportation choices.

Taxi drivers have repeatedly appealed to the Port to follow their own rules and hold up their end of the bargain so that they can have a shot at a decent living for themselves and their families. Monday, taxi cab operators and community leaders will call on Port leaders to enforce their own rules. Taxi drivers are also preparing for a possible work stoppage to protest the unfair conditions.

More information about poverty-wage jobs at our airport: Taxi drivers are among the thousands of workers who bring home only poverty wages for the vital and critical work of keeping Sea-Tac moving, including the people who get your bags from the ticket counter to the plane, make sure the aircraft cabins are clean, assist people in wheelchairs so they make their flights on time, and pump thousands of gallons of jet fuel into the planes. Airport workers are joining together to call on the elected officials who run our airport and the corporate players who profit from their work to say it's time to make every airport job a good job.

For more about Teamsters 117, the Western Washington Taxi Cab Operators Association, and Working Washington's campaign to make every job at our airport a good job, visit teamsters117.org, TeamsterTaxi.org, and itsOURairport.org

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CONTACTS: Sage Wilson, Working Washington: sage@workingwa.org Paul Zilly, Teamsters 117: paul.zilly@teamsters117.org

Today marks 63 years of Sea-Tac: time to make our airport a first class facility for workers.

by Nate Jackson

On July 9th, 1949 — exactly 63 years ago — thousands of curious folks gathered around the new main terminal of Sea-Tac Airport to see the facilities. The mood was exciting: propeller planes roared on the runway, newspaper and TV cameras snapped away, and regular people explored the terminal with its brand-new dining areas and coffee shops overlooking the new air fields.

It was the start of a new chapter in the region where efficient transportation and good jobs were to be the hallmark of this new airport. Everything was on track for our airport to be first class. Expectations were high.

But 63 years later, much of that promise is unfulfilled. These days, millions of people move through our top-notch Sea-Tac facilities each year — but their safe travels are due in part to the work of thousands of poverty-wage workers employed by low-bid airport contractors.

They are the skycaps, baggage handlers, ramp workers, fuelers, and passenger service workers who make our airport work. Many of them are immigrants and refugees who came to this area seeking a better life. All of them are working hard to put food on the table for their families. They deserve living wages, respect and the right to stand together for better working conditions.

But our airport economy today is deeply unequal. It’s a first-class airport for some, but a poverty-class airport for far too many.

The publicly-owned Port of Seattle oversees Sea-Tac Airport. When the Port was established, it was all about protecting workers and the public from the abuses of the big businesses who had a chokehold on all the transportation routes in the region.

Now — 100 years after the Port was established and 63 years after Sea-Tac opened — we are seeing something quite different. Big businesses are taking advantage of thousands of workers at our airport while our public Port turns a blind eye.

These days, the dominant airline doing business at our airport is Alaska Airlines, which controls more than half the flight at Sea-Tac. Because it dwarfs the scale of other airlines at Sea-Tac, Alaska sets the standards that other airlines emulate. What Alaska does, the whole airport usually follows.

Unfortunately, Alaska hasn’t led the way in the right direction. It has been engaging in a race to the bottom in our airport, cutting costs and trying to evade their responsibilities by contracting out work to the lowest bidder. This low-bid airport economy has created thousands of poverty-wage jobs.

This isn’t the first-class publicly-owned airport we were promised 63 years ago.

But on this anniversary of the first terminal opening at Sea-Tac we can make a difference for these thousands of workers who are still working towards that hopeful promise of its founding: add your name to the petition that says every job at our airport should be a good job.

The Port and Alaska need to do their part to ensure that every worker at Sea-Tac gets paid a living wage, is treated with respect, and has the right to stand together for better working conditions.

The airport started off with high expectations where workers and passengers would both benefit from the work being done at our airport. It’s been a long time and we still have a lot of work to do to fulfill those dreams. Together let’s fulfill those expectations and exceed them.

Feeling nostalgic? Your pocket-book might.

The year was 1968. The Number 1 song was Hey Jude by The Beatles. The Graduate was a top movie. Patchouli was in the air. Feeling nostalgic yet? If not, maybe this will get you pining to turn back the clock for a moment: 1968 also marked a peak in the minimum wage that we haven't reached since.

You read that right: after adjusting for inflation, the minimum wage was at its highest all the way back in 1968... at about $10.00 an hour in contemporary dollars.

Today, forty-four years later we are nearly a dollar behind the 1968 figure here in Washington State — and we have the highest minimum wage in the nation. In most other states, the floor is even lower — the Federal minimum wage is just $7.25 an hour and hasn't been raised in 3 years.

Today, millions of workers across the country earn wages well below the $10 high-water mark set in 1968. And these are not a bunch of kids working a few hours to earn money for videogames. A recent study showed that only 12% of minimum wage workers are teenagers working less than 20 hours a week. The rest are adults working hard to try and make ends meet... but struggling to hold it together because of the declining purchasing power of the minimum wage.

The 99% aren't expecting to get rich — we just want a decent wage, a fair shake, and a shot at a better life. The first step is getting the minimum wage back up at least to where it was in 1968: at $10/hour, as is being proposed in the Catching up to 1968 Act that's been proposed in Congress.

There was time when that didn't seem like too much to ask. And there's no reason it should be too much to ask today, either. We need a decent minimum wage in our future, not just as a relic of our past. Because how can our economy ever get back on its feet if we continue down an economic path where the top 1% get all the spoils for our hard work?

As immigrant students celebrate major advance, immigrant workers rally to protect family healthcare

Janitors and community supporters to rally for good jobs & affordable healthcare

TODAY, as immigrant students across the country celebrate a major advance that will protect against unreasonable deportations, immigrant janitors will rally with community supporters to protect the major advances they have made in recent years to improve their jobs. One of the key issues Seattle janitors are fighting to protect in contract negotiations this year: affordable healthcare benefits for their children.

The commercial real estate market in Seattle is quite healthy, with rents up and office employment growing. But instead of sharing the success, building managers are proposing to substantially increase the cost of family healthcare for this largely immigrant workforce.

When: TODAY: Friday, June 15, 2012, 3:00 pm

Where: Westlake Park, 401 Pine Street, Seattle, WA 98101

What: Janitors and community supporters rally for good jobs and affordable family healthcare

Working Washington is one of many organizations joining workers, community leaders, people of faith, elected officials in support of the Justice for Janitors campaign. U.S. Congressman Jim McDermott, King County Executive Dow Constantine, Church Council of Greater Seattle Director Michael Ramos, and Martin Luther King County Labor Council Executive Secretary David Freiboth are among those who will be joining today's rally for good jobs and strong communities.

For more information on today's rally and other issues facing Seattle-area janitors, contact Tania Maria Rosario of SEIU Local 6 at (206) 850-5021.

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Workers push back against contractor musical chairs at our airport

Workers & community leaders push for fair treatment after contractor re-shuffle leaves experienced skycaps without their jobs. 

"Decades," the young woman said, shaking her head as she looked at the flyer a worker handed her. The flyer laid out the situation of 3 long-time skycaps who were recently informed they were going to lose their own jobs just because Delta Airlines decided to re-shuffle the contractors they pay to provide skycap services to their passengers.

Hosea Wilcox has served Sea-Tac travelers as a skycap for decades: 31 years in fact. Alejandro Geracio for 22 years. And Baltazar Pineda for 19 years. After decades of service, these workers deserve more than a pink slip. And yet all 3 recently learned they are going to lose their own jobs — not through any fault of their own, but simply because Delta Airlines has decided to re-shuffle the low-bid contractors that provide passenger services to travelers.

Hosea Wilcox in particular had become a familiar face to thousands of airline passengers, after a 31-year career as a skycap and a prominent role in advertisements highlighting the prevalence of poverty-wage jobs at SeaTac. Now Hosea is dramatizing another unfortunate reality of employment at SeaTac: Thousands of contracted workers are at risk of losing their jobs when airlines decide to change contractors.

That's why airport workers, people of faith, and community leaders are taking action.

In late May, a delegation of nearly 30 crowded into to the office of the new contractor to ask that Hosea, Alejandro and Baltazar get their jobs back. We managed to get a manager on the phone, but we didn't get much of an answer.

We know that the contractors aren’t the real decision-makers in the airport economy — it’s the big corporate airlines. The airlines are the ones who hire the contractors, they’re the ones who set the rules, they're the ones whose passengers the skycaps serve, and they’re the ones who have the power to make sure every job at our airport is a good job.

That’s why our next stop was to send a bigger delegation of workers and community leader to take the skycaps’ case directly to Delta Airlines. We occupied their ticket counter and asked to speak to the airline’s top-ranking local decision maker on contracting operations — their Sea-Tac Station Manager, Roy Tschumi. Like a game of tennis, Delta lobbed its responsibility to workers back to the contractor, sending out representatives from their passenger services subcontractor. These representatives politely received the delegation’s letter to Delta, but they said little and promised less.

That’s not good enough.

So we continued to increase the pressure on June 8th, when 40 workers and community leaders circled around Delta Ticket Counter and curbside skycap station with some special luggage that had signs attached calling on Delta to ensure these experienced skycaps get more than a pink slip.

We successfully got the attention of passengers and employees in the crowded terminal. After more than an hour of peaceful parading workers packed up their luggage and chanted “We’ll be Back!” And we will be back — we’ll continue to persistently, peacefully call on Delta and its contractors to give these workers their jobs back. Stay tuned for our next steps in the days ahead.

And in the meantime, call Delta Station Manager Roy Tschumi at 206-988-7499. Tell him to make sure that Hosea Wilcox, Alejandro Geracio and Baltazar Pineda get their jobs back.

Three airport workers deserve more than a pink slip.

Earlier this month at our airport, three experienced skycaps learned that they will soon lose their jobs, as Delta Airlines shuffles the contractors that provide passenger services to customers. After decades of reliable service to Sea-Tac travelers, these airport workers deserve more than a pink slip!

Call Delta Airlines Sea-Tac Station Manager Roy Tschumi at (206) 988-7499. Tell him to make sure that contractor Bags, Inc. offers jobs to Hosea Wilcox, Alejandro Geracio and Baltazar Pineda.

Amazon dumps ALEC and promises to invest in warehouses, courtesy of the 99%.

By Nate Jackson Reverend Angela Ying, a 99%er, stood up in the middle of the Amazon Shareholder meeting and asked the billionaire CEO Jeff Bezos point blank, “Why are you still supporting the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)?” Bezos passed the question to an Amazon lawyer, Michelle Wilson. Wilson in as many words told us that the giant online retailer is dropping their support of ALEC.

“This year, we've decided not to renew with ALEC, and it's because of positions they've taken not related to our business,” said Wilson.

Positions not related to their business? The real reason Amazon is dropping ALEC is because of the consistent public pressure from the 99%. Nationally the 99% has persuaded more than 15 corporations to leave the right wing, extreme organization, Amazon was the 16th.

The message was spread out from inside the shareholder meeting by text and twitter messages and the 99% raised a cheer both outside the shareholder meeting and across the country.

The 99% had been gathering signatures, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, to bring public attention to ALEC’s lobbying for tax loopholes for big corporations, Stand Your Ground legislation, and voter suppression laws.

Amazon under consistent public pressure decided to end their affiliation.

These promises came at the annual shareholder meeting in which CEO Jeff Bezos, looking nervous, answered questions posed by the 99% who just so happened to hold a share of the giant online retailer.

Meanwhile on the outside of the shareholder meeting, under the watchful gaze of the Hammering Man, we gathered hundreds strong to send a message to the executives of Amazon.

Deana Knutsen, a Washington CAN! activist stomped around the stage revving up the crowd.

“We came here to say one thing,” she said shaking her fist. “Amazon you need to pay your fair share!”

Amazon using a combination of tax loopholes had an effective federal income tax rate of 2.6%

“We pay our taxes, we don’t abuse loopholes,” she said. “It’s time for you to do the right thing!”

She led the group in chants getting louder and louder as we all raised our voices. Onlookers snapped photos and took video as the bull horns blared out “Pay your fair share! Pay your fair share!”

The crowd was getting bigger by the minute and we displayed signs, held banners and even floated a thought balloon over the Hammering Man’s head. The 16 ton structure representing working people agreed with us, his thought bubble reading “I wish Amazon paid their fair share.”

Maribel Peralez grabbed the microphone and pointed out the glaring differences between the beautiful buildings in South Lake Union and the warehouse conditions the workers faced across the country.

“Hey Jeff Bezos!” she shouted looking over her shoulder to the Art Museum. “You are worth billions of dollars and you pretend you can’t afford to install basic air conditioning in your warehouses? Shame on you!”

We took up the chant and Peralez waited for us to quiet down.

“These warehouses got up to 100 degrees and instead of putting in air conditioning you brought in paramedics?” she asked. “Shame on you!”

We weren’t just outside sending our message, many of us had actually gotten inside the meeting as well. We were shareholders in the truest sense.

Inside the meeting, shareholders were shown a PowerPoint presentation that went over the profits, “tax liabilities” and other business information. The most interesting thing amongst the presentation was a video showing a helicopter dropping in a new air conditioning unit amongst one of Amazon’s warehouses.

An Amazon warehouse in Pennsylvania had reached temperatures in excess of 100 degrees while workers were forced to keep up quotas, even if they were in threat of heat exhaustion.

Amazon having taking hit after hit from public pressure pledged to spend tens of millions installing basic air conditioning in their warehouses.

We wanted to ask more questions about Amazon’s tax dodging, but the shareholder meeting was stopped short. We were cut off and escorted out of the meeting by police who seemed eager to do the bidding of the big corporation. Uncharacteristically Amazon CEO Bezos didn’t even take any questions from reporters. It was a hasty retreat.

The Amazon executives including the CEO heard our message and they had prepared to address our concerns. After all we, the 99%, had been raising these questions on the street, online, and across the country.

We’ve had a huge victory. Amazon dropped ALEC and started taking responsibility towards the basic needs of their warehouse workers, air conditioning is a basic starting point, but they’ve failed to address their tax dodging. Now we just need the biggest online retailer to take another look at its tax responsibilities. It’s time for them to pay their fair share.

Headlines across the country are following the peaceful protests that are making a difference and getting under the skin of the 1%. No longer, if we keep up the pressure, will the 1% get to do whatever they desire without the 99% taking notice of their irresponsible behavior.

The 1% is worried. They are not used to the 99% standing up and demanding justice. Too bad. We’ve gotten the taste for it and we’re still hungry. We’ve had a great appetizer with Amazon dropping ALEC and agreeing to invest in the basic upgrades to their warehouses, but the main course is still ahead.