Bulletin board flap could spark taxi boycott

Tuesday, May 8, 2001 | 10:58 a.m.

McCarran International Airport is bracing tonight for its second boycott by taxicab drivers this month, but airport officials anticipate little if any disruption of customer service.

The dispute is over the airport's removal of a bulletin board in the taxicab pit area for drivers to leave messages for one another. The boycott is scheduled for 7 to 8 p.m.; it's the same time slot that was observed by drivers May 1.

Union Cab Co. driver David Sanders, a boycott leader, said Monday that he believes the board was removed to silence drivers who were posting messages critical of the way they are treated by the Taxicab Authority and cab companies. Sanders said he used the board to post his weekly newsletter, the Constitution Journal, which charges that cab drivers are mistreated.

"In my opinion the Taxicab Authority contacted the airport and said, 'We have to shut this guy up,' " Sanders said. "They want to dictate what the drivers read."

But airport spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said the board was removed because it was used in recent months to post inappropriate items, such as advertisements for outcall services.

In a letter Friday to Taxicab Authority Administrator Bob Anselmo, Bill Klein, McCarran landside operations assistant director, said the board also was used for "politically oriented material and caricatures defaming airport employees."

"We cannot allow wildcat job actions to interfere with the smooth flow of millions of passengers from McCarran to our resort destinations," Klein wrote. "We need your continued assurance that you will take whatever action necessary to keep an adequate flow of taxicabs at McCarran."

Grey said there was no intent to limit cab drivers' right to free speech.

"We put up the board to be good co-tenants, but it degenerated into ads for outcall services and dancers, and that was inappropriate for the airport," Grey said.

"He (Sanders) is claiming we're violating his First Amendment rights, but we're under no obligation to put up a bulletin board. This seems to be a petty issue."

Just the same, chief Taxicab Authority investigator Bob Flaven said cab company representatives intend to be at the airport tonight and may fire drivers who participate in the boycott.

"It won't be a huge boycott because most of the drivers will show up," Flaven said. "I will be there myself with some of my people."

Tuesday evenings are among the slowest times of the week for airport passenger travel. Compared to peak weekend times, in which there are 700 to 800 cabs an hour at McCarran, Grey said the airport cab traffic is about one-tenth that on Tuesday evenings.

"We would be incredibly concerned if there was disruption in service," Grey said. "But we didn't have any interruption of service last week."

But Sanders said he and fellow drivers will go to court if necessary to have the bulletin board returned. Among the issues he is fighting for are better wages for drivers and improvements in the way drivers are treated by the Taxicab Authority.

He also said the bulletin board is necessary because it is often the only place where drivers can learn of upcoming Taxicab Authority meetings.

"The Taxicab Authority doesn't want the drivers to know what's on (its) agenda because when the drivers show up en masse, it creates a problem," Sanders said. "The cab drivers are not trying to inconvenience the public. They just want their bulletin board back."