The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-05-26
YELLOW CAB co.
SEEKS To coin
BIGGER PROFITS
Long Hours, Low Pay Is
Workers Share
By a Worker Correspondent.

lie GLOW CdD company ubSo
every possible means to reap larger
profits. When man is hired by the
company he is forced to buy uni
form from the company for $32. He
is then compelled to go on school
car without pay for two weeks. After
the expiration Of the two weeks he
is hired as driver on q per cent
commission basis.
Average Wage SIS.
Out Of this he is forced to buy his
own gas which costs him 10 cents
gallon. The average wages Of cab
driver is about SIS week. While
schooling a beginner they seek to i'm
press on his mind that he can live on
the tips and save the rest.
The drivers time is not his own.
He is forced to stay out until his
bookings are sufficient to suit the
floor man. If the driver happens to
check in with small booking the
floor man accuses him Of loafing.
Work Long Hours.
driver works from 13 to IS hours
day. Often he is told to take an or
der to certain destination. On ar
irving at the place where he was or
dered to go to he is informed that the
party has left or has taken different
cab. In this case the driver loses. He
wastes his time and burns gas for
which he is paying out of his own
q pocket.
It is nothing for a driver to report
for work at O'Clock in the afternoon
and wait until or before he gets
his car. The old cars are in a very
bad condition and have to be hauled
into the garage for repairs while the
driver has to wait for two or three
hours before he can take it out.
Docked For Lost Parts.
If a driver happens to lose chain
It is taken out of his pay. SO for a
chain, IS for robe, IS for INNER
tubes, etc. This encourages one
driver to steal from another to avoid
paying for articles that are lost.
A feet of gold starred men, known
as canaries, who turn you in for every
little thing they consider wrong, is
maintained by the company. They re-
ceive S. week extra for their role
as company spies.
When a driver quits and turns in
al his uniform they allow him but SIS
for the uniform. They then clean it,
repair it and resell it to another
driver as a new uniform for $32.
It takes the driver all day to get
his money when he decides to leave
the employ of the firm. This is done
so that many of the drivers, disguised
at the conditions they were forced to
work under, may leave the employ Of
the firm without trying to get their
last weeks pay.
Red Tape to Get Money.
The driver is sent to the cashier.
The cashier then sends him to win
dow three; window three to window
seven; window seven back to the
cashier The cashier denies she has
any record of any money coming to
the driver. Finally the cashier locates
It and informs the driver that the
sum was kept by the company as a
payment on the uniform. The drivers
for the Yellow Cab Company are in
this way often forced to pay twice for
a single uniform.
To keep many of the newcomers
from quitting Immediately they have
changed the bonus system so that you
must now work six months to get the
bonus where before all you had to
work was one month to get this
measly bonus
Those who lea,S the company be-
fore the half-year Is up lose the
bonus! When bonus time approaches
many of those who are due to get the
bonus are fired on some pretext and
rehired when the distribution period
f, has passed.
Underpaid Starters.
The drivers are not the only ones
that are underpaid and overworked.
All of the workers for this company
are in the same boat. The starters
work seven days a week forssmall pay.
They work from to IL and then go
off from ~ to and return at and
work to midnight. The following day
they come on at 10 and work to 4
and the next day they start again at
and work to IL and work from 4 to
midnight. This prevents them from
gettin day Of rest, forcing them to
cnand douhla carfara during the
week. Formerly they worked nine
hours a day, days a week or "a
hours a week. At present they work
81 hours a week, seven days a week
The Yellow Cab Company, thru this
arrangement, saves one weeks wages
on every three starters. They save
n SIS a week by making the workers
work longer hours and seven days q
week.