The Independent Contract - In Sum

Over the last 30 years, the law has pretty much caught up with the Independent Contract. A series of court cases have given drivers Workers Compensation and, maybe, Unemployment. It's no longer legal for companies to demand insurance deposits from their drivers.

It's also true that I have probably romanced the virtues of being an employee. It's doubtful that, under the political climate of the last three decades, we would have been able to form a union even if we been given employee rights. Unions have hardly proven themselves to be bastions of morality either. A friend of mine, in a Longshoreman's Local, had to tip union agents to get shifts. And, the foundations of building have been poured on many an ex-Teamster.

The level of corruption seems to be about the same. On the other hand, union workers are usually much better paid.

But there are advantages to driving a cab as an Independent Contractor. It's a cash business and nobody tells you what to do. You can take radio calls or not, work the airport or not, use any system you can think of to make money and take breaks (or not) any time or any place you like. Furthermore, an economic recession is unlikely to cost you your job. All that happens is that you make less money. In fact, people laid off from other industries invariably swarm taxi companies looking for work during recessions. Most of them make less money driving cab than they had been making before but at least they make something.

Comparing lease drivers to workers in 19th Century sweat shops is also way off the mark. You can do what you want when you drive a cab and, benefits aside, taxi driving pays better than most clerical or retail jobs. The combination of the freedom and cash is what got me into the business - and what keeps me there.

However, the biggest advantage of the Independent Contract clearly goes to the companies. The ability to fire people (excuse me "cancel their leases") without cause has given cab companies way too much power and led to abuses that I've written about earlier (see Alleged Tipping and the series on the Independent Contract). Beyond that it has saved the companies huge amounts of money that they have not had to pay in the way of taxes and benefits.

The gates and gas system has also made the taxi industry recession proof. Although the taxi business is currently down (by most accounts) 30% to 50%, the companies are flourishing. Former stock brokers, computer geeks, money managers and (god knows) maybe lawyers are lining up to drive cabs. But they can't even get an application. The companies are backlogged with drivers. They aren't hiring.

I guess the question is whether or not this is a good thing. As a medallion holder, I appear to be benefitting from this system. But I wonder? Is is right for companies to be flourishing when the amount of actual business they do is in decline? Is it right for them to be protected from the laws of the marketplace?

Most the plans for "reforming" Proposition K, for instance, call for putting more taxis on the street. The people who drew up these plans act as if the current recession didn't exist. As such, these plans as disconnected from the economic realities of our time. Would this be happening if the companies were actually in the cab business instead of the leasing business?

Is the public truly being served by this system? The major complaint about the taxi service in San Francisco is that it's hard to get a taxi in the outlying neighborhoods. But a company cannot tell an Independent Contractor what to do. That would make the driver an employee. Therefore, the companies cannot assign a driver to a call or tell him or her to work a specific area or neighborhood. Because the drivers themselves are on a gate system, they cannot afford to stay in neighborhoods with little business and naturally head back toward the busy areas as fast as they can.

Because the City has not allowed companies to raise gates thus shrinking their income and to avoid legal problems arising from the current system, taxi companies are more and more going to long term leases. They give up their day to day control but they don't have to sweat the details either.

This is a big problem for dispatchers by the way. The days of FIVE in and FIVE out are becoming a thing of the past. They're lucky if the long term lease drivers toss 'em TWO a couple of times a month ... and that's how it should be.

However, it's difficult to see how the long term leases serve the public. Most of the drivers appear to work the airport and the companies have no control over them whatsoever. It's hard to envision these guys spending a lot of time in the Sunset taking radio calls.

I'm tempted to say that I think the system is broken and needs a drastic reform. In fact, in an earlier version, I did. But that's a drastic exaggeration. I got carried away by my own rhetoric.

On the other hand, the public isn't being served as well as it should be, the drivers are treated unfairly and the companies themselves might do better under a different set up.

The gate and gas system may be outdated. As it is the only way the drivers can make more money is by raising the fares and the only way the companies can make more money is by raising the gates. The fares are already among the highest in the country and it's hard to see how raising them now would do anything other than lose business. The gates are already too high for the amount of business we have.

There has to be a better way. All we need is a Solomon to figure it out.