schools. we want to put we are family pe. why are you not on our side? beyond the side of the family people that are working hard and fighting for their families. [applause] >> if i could read a few names. [reading names] >> it is the same survey that john talked about.

it will bounce right back on to me about the millions of dollars being given to the bank of omaha. i saw the hundreds of cabs and circling. hundreds of drivers downstairs hall lined up and waiting to speak. you need to talk to john martin. ask him how it felt to have this airport shut down for five days in september of 2002. i have no doubt that these drivers have the power. it is the same reason. unilateral decisions coming from the top and not listening to people that do the work. talk to him. [applause] director nolan: good afternoon. >> i'm a yellow driver.

i want to just say that i think there are alternatives to the 5% credit-card charges. all of those drivers -- to buy some gas from the company and get the best price you can. i don't think they are behind this or in collusion with the company. we're lucky to have someone of her caliber working for us.

she may have just been surprised by the 5%. [applause] >> we have everything we have, [unintelligible] thank you. >> good afternoon, sir. and i have been driving over 20 years. it would give good service to our community.

everybody has three kids, for kids. we're helping our community. and think he should support it. and thank you. >> [reading names]

>> and amos solomon and i am a cabdriver. where you save the meeting will be on may 11. [unintelligible] during the license they give us for cabdrivers, we don't have to fill out the column. it is not their business to know how much we are making. from now, when it is not federal law or state law. when it doesn't come from the

supervisors or the mayor. the wrong amount of how much we are making proposed and not from us. there is a correct way of getting this information. to start with, the figure you get which is what is on the middle of how much it costs will not be correct. cab driving being a very stressful job is so common for the drivers. you get people that don't want to pay. director nolan: next speaker, please.

>> let me say with a great deal of pride that accompanied the imf of believed used to be the only company that is not passing on these costs to its drivers. if we can do it, other companies can do it. yellow has been doing it even since the credit card uses have slowed. what you see here is a tremendous outpouring of frustration, obviously, about credit-card an electronic monitoring. it is just part of a pattern in which the risks, the responsibilities, the cost of the burdens are constantly being pushed on the people back at least bear them at least afford them. that is what is going on here. it has to stop. get rid of the credit card

charges or you are hearing what is going to count. >> my name is christopher. i hope you appreciate the and if you're hearing is that people who routinely disagree with one another. i like to speak about the advisory council. it is the equivalent of the smoke-filled conspiratorial room. i had to point out that it was voting on motions before allowing public comments. the upcoming approval of the sales program will reflect a vote by force of filibuster. the council is political lopsided and there are not

represented of the citizenry. if i said nothing else, i would like to say to other things. i accuse you of earning her the amnesty of certain fractures of the industry in order to get her fired. secondly, i accuse all representatives of a lack of fraternal solidarity with the cab drivers. >> good afternoon. 26 years driving. as you can hear, there is a pervasive malaise in the industry. it is complicated and the verse. his is very deep, why don't we have our own division? why do we have to demonstrate, strike, lose time and money in

the discussion to be heard. we should have our own division. we deserve as much respect and concern as the other drivers. [applause] >> [reading names] >> i have been a cab driver for 21 years. yes, we are treated as employees. we have a compromise with the waiting lists. some money could go to the city. what did we get? it charges the credit card that makes a lot of money for the banks and robs us of our honest

work. we will be bombarded. we have been -- [unintelligible] it is quite a sizable sum of money for a cabdriver. to work, we transport, and we care for the people of san francisco. director nolan: we have several lines of what we get to them? -- lined up, why don't we get through them? >> first of all, i wanted to mention the issue of 5%

reduction from the credit card we're charging. there is a lot of resentment among the others about this issue. it is cause an undue this comfort in our writers, and this is going to increase in the not going to go way unless it is taken away. secondly, there were yellow cabs church in extra as stipulated by the city of san francisco. we came here to defend the company because the company told us that we're charging you a little bit extra because we're providing services in the form of credit card machines.

[chime] director nolan: thank you, sir. her next speaker, please. >> thank you for listening to us. as to what we were informed, there were teased without any cost to anybody. and it would cover all of the cost of credit card transactions by the ad revenue. and later on, it comes on our shoulders. they are paid less than anybody else. you're still taking up for these people. we have to figure out. there'll be a lot of things going to be mentioned. people will be coming up to protest. it is a lot of what we call

insecurity on the web page web site. it is easy to get somebody's information. microsoft and brag that it was so secure. but it was packed within two minutes. so we have to secure our system. >> because we have some of the cards and i don't know who is here are not here, we'll have people from the south side court come to this room and sit down so we can keep the speaker cards and speakers here. >> good afternoon. i have a yellow cab driver. i have to concerns. first, the credit-card 5%, in my

second concern is about elector videos. if the mta is there, they can do it. >> i am here for the 5%. i am here for the electronic waybill. of you can do something about it. thank you for your time. >> have a yellow cab driver.

i wanted to say that all texas drivers are independent contractors. that means it is like any other grocery stores, convenience store. we are no different. if you do not require other stores to have electronic waybills, why should we be forced to have any kind of the electronic devices to collect all the data? if you can get credit card processing for a 1.5 or 2%, why should we pay 5%? i drove for almost 16 years. the first thing, of 5% a charge

for credit cards is not acceptable. it will be 1.5 or 1.57. another comment is about security. i heard about sunday attacked by the hackers. who will provide this protection for cabdrivers? you have to give this information for our family. >> i spoke to you a month ago. nothing has changed and i am back. i like to read a quote here. i am told that this came from chris, she is referring to the perception of 7 cisco

cabdriver's that they're rude, untrained, and how to operate their own payment processing equipment. they have refused any fare that is not good enough for them or paid in cash. and unwilling to wash or change out of their pajamas before going to work. and taxi drivers refuse to respond to radio calls because they're on their way to or from the airport or unwilling to leave downtown. if you want the public to what is the events as the taxi, look at the mirror. you have to look for a part of the solution to the problem. that may be so, but i have worked in private businesses my entire life. [chime] the way you and improve the quality of employees and the workmanship is to increase pay and working conditions. neither of which this panel is doing.

>> good afternoon. and then if you don't help us, next time i'll ask credit-card customers to bring me eggs and oranges. >> in this country, everybody has the rights. we are driving cabs, perhaps altogether. could you list for us what rights we have? we only have the right to family and kids. i beg of you to not raise the price.

>> if there are people in room 408 or in the southport that wish to address the board, could you please tell of the stairs now? and if there are people in this room, could you line up over to the side? thank you. >> good afternoon. >> give courtesy to the speaker, please. >> will also want to look at this. i want to inform you, sir. i speak so many languages. but never in any country, i

look had the government. it is totally a human. i am opposing this in your thinking. >> i drive a yellow cab for 10 years. before became a citizen, i never had access to good education. or what they called a good job. that is my job. it is my life. my wife and my two daughters.

if you want to interfere with our jobs and our lives, please do with in a positive way. give us health insurance. give us a pension. please stop making our lives more miserable. stop the 5%. look at the gas prices. how can we survive? >> these were given to us at outside. i would like you to get in touch with in this. [chime] director nolan: thank you, sir. thank you very much. thank you. next speaker, please. >> i am not a cab driver, but i

am an independent business owner. i process credit-card on a daily basis and i have contracts with three credit card processing companies. the average interest rate is to 25%. of the occasion i get american per -- american express, the highest is 3.25. i have a small account, and by one person. if i had a larger clientele, there are thousands of cabdrivers, the rates would be even lower. i like to know how high, as one person, i'm having to pay half that. who negotiated the price for their having to pay double? who is a master negotiator here? they are paying double what it is the seller has to pay. >> my name is bill and i have

been an independent contractor for 31 years. at the end of today, i like to ask you to think of 110. when you leave here, and i am sure you are public employees, union people, involved in the negotiations and contract. if you're asked to go back to your people to set an agreement, the the agreement you wish us to take, you would not be asked records of the group again. >> i got to my car a couple of weekends ago when i found it was full of all the stuff. i have a computer and a new meter that goes over the dashboard. that felt like i was in the coffin. the price of gas is going out.

they're not getting ahead of the price of gas. i feel is a hazard. i can't see people crossing the street with all the equipment being dumped on us. if there is an accident, i don't know what will happen to the back seat. they don't have air bags. we can see -- i like being watched or listened to all the time. because i work late at night, i give the passenger time to get inside. a thing that is an invidious that we're going to lose with the way bills. nobody is complaining about filling out waybills. as far as the medallion sales program, it is a scam.

it is ripping off our colleagues on the list. the most vulnerable people in the business, who have dedicated their lives to driving a cab and they can't get home medallions because they are being sold out from under them. >> good afternoon. , i understand it all really know our industry. we are very low income people. ladies gentlemen, i invite you to come and drive a cab. you will understand the problems. they do so much. >> i drive a yellow cab.

i support everything that my colleagues said before, so i don't want to waste your time. but instead of robbing us more and more, you guys take care of the illegal drivers stealing every fare from us, and those things. and if you believe our customers like electronic waybill, you are mistaken. i asked to many customers if elected the tract, it will be the name and the road. if there is anything you say now, the 5% will go to our customers. sooner or later, they will like it, too.

>> i am elizabeth bradley. this is really pushing me away from the business. i was hoping to get my medallion. i had a guy pull a knife on me about that big. i got rid of him and i didn't get hurt, but reminds me, are you going to find people to drive that put up with that kind of stuff? my rent is $1,050 a month. my husband is gone. you take that 5% away from me, and where will i live? i am paying 750 to drive the rich people around. do you think that is right? thank you.

>> i have been driving since 9 -- 1993. reinforced to take the credit cards and pay the 5% fee, the driver does is headed me this picture. they're selling cards cash only. they will not take credit cards to purchase these parking cards. i want to make an issue about that. if we're going to take electronic waybills, computers always break down. sometimes the meter doesn't even work. a credit card machine barely lets me log on half of the time the area customers are complaining and i turned it into the office.