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Since last Sunday, Las Vegas’ largest taxi enterprise, Yellow-Checker-Star, has been paralyzed by more than one thousand drivers walking out to picket the company, but the strike apparently has not impacted the industry – hotels, casinos, tourists, conventioneers and the like – that depends on those taxis to move around.
According to one airline source, the strike has not impacted the traffic of passengers at McCarran airport either. Chris Jones, the spokesman for McCarran Airport, told the Las Vegas Tribune that an average of 9,000 taxis are boarded at McCarran and estimated that they have used more taxis since the strike began than last year at the same time.
The strike by drivers at Yellow-Checker-Star Transportation had no impact at all on any of the MGM Resort International’s 10 major resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, company spokeswoman Yvette Monet said.
One of the reasons that the strike is taking place is because the company is putting more and more taxis on the streets when they don’t need that many taxis, cutting into the pay that the drivers used to make. Also, drivers are forced to work 12-hour shifts, and the newer drivers must work six days a week, which contributes to dangerous driving conditions due to the many long hours on the road without proper rest, one driver told the Las Vegas Tribune.
Yellow-Checker-Star and the cab drivers’ union have been negotiating for some time now, but they keep running into roadblocks.
The union has rejected two contract offers from the company, but they say Yellow-Checker-Star implemented pieces of the contract anyway
“We did not break off the negotiations; the company did,” said union representative Sam Moffitt. “We’ve expressed a willingness to talk anytime they want to, so it’s up to them.”
Negotiations are due to resume Wednesday, March 6, at 10 a.m., according to our sources.
