LV taxi driver leader fired

Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2000 | 10:50 a.m.

The president of the Professional Drivers Association, an organization of Las Vegas taxi and limousine drivers, has been fired for conducting association business on company time.

Daryl Poelman, a driver for Yellow-Checker-Star, the city's largest cab company, said he has filed a grievance through the Industrial Technical Professional Employees Union over his dismissal after he admitted to company officials that he was conducting association business while on the job.

Poelman said he was mediating a dispute between taxi and limousine drivers over tipping policies by hotel doormen at several properties. Taxi drivers have accused doormen of accepting money from limousine drivers for steering customers to their vehicles. The cabbies say the limo drivers then receive a commission from bars where they deliver the passengers.

Taxi drivers threatened to boycott the hotels until the practice was stopped.

Bill Shranko, director of operations for Yellow-Checker-Star, said Poelman admitted intervening in the matter while on one of his Checker Cab shifts. But Shranko said the association also was behind the threatened boycott, a charge Poelman denies.

Shranko said a flier signed by Poelman says, "We are calling off the boycott" and discusses negotiations between the association and the hotels. Shranko said any type of job action affecting taxi service would violate the drivers' union contract with the company. He said the association has no legal standing with the company.

T. Ruthie Jones, vice president of the union, said a grievance has not been addressed by the company. A group of taxi drivers staged a peaceful demonstration in support of Poelman at Yellow-Checker-Star's headquarters Friday.

Poelman says the association does not disclose how many members it has.