***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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