Abdul, left, and Samatar delivering their letter at the front desk of Seattle Mayor’s Office in the City Hall on Tuesday November 1st.
Runta—Seattle
A group representing some Seattle Cab Companies delivered yesterday a letter of complaint to the Mayor’s office at Seattle City Hall. “We will be delivering a letter to Mayor Murray,” said Abdul Yusuf and Sam Guled, whose E-Cab Taxi and Flat Rate for Hire vehicles now number over 700 (largest fleet in the North West), “that says, on collective bargaining for taxi and for-hire drivers, and other issues that affect our lives and our incomes, the City is not talking to us. Eastside and E-Cab recently won the SeaTac Airport Taxi and For Hire contract.
Abdul and Sam said in a press release letter they send also to the local media, the City is not talking to our drivers, or drivers in our industry in general that number over 4,000 Seattle citizens. The City is not talking to our community leaders. The City is talking to California-based TNC companies, like Uber and Lyft, and to Teamsters 117, a labor union whose representation has been rejected by most actual taxi and for-hire drivers. And every day, our drivers pay the price. The Industry of Taxi and For Hire is the back bone of the minority, refugee and immigrant communities in Seattle and we cannot be on the sidelines when our own livelihood is being discussed. We are astonished with the level of disrespect from the mayor’s staff to our industry and our communities during last council hearings on the subject matter. We believe we are the biggest stake holders in the industry and we must be at the table at all time.
The representative of some Seattle Cab/For Hire Companies soon after they delivered their letter
“The letter is signed by our drivers, and our community leaders. We are tired of the Mayor’s staff telling the Council that they are talking to us, about things like collective bargaining, when in fact they are not. And we want to put a stop to self-appointed organizations speak for us, instead of listening to us, and working with us.”
Community leaders including African Americans (including Africans) and South Asians, and number of drivers have joined Guled and Yusuf in making the unscheduled presentation to the Mayor at his office in City Hall.
