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Airport cabbies miffed, not on strike

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published December 19, 2006

Taxi drivers threatened to strike Monday, irritated over recent changes at Tampa International Airport.

Apparently, the protest fizzled.

Cabs were lined up at TIA Monday morning awaiting customers as usual in spite of a two-page fax sent to media outlets that screamed in giant type: "TAXI DRIVERS GO ON STRIKE."

The unsigned fax indicated that all taxi radio systems would be turned off and pickups halted if drivers weren't given answers by 1 p.m. about why hired town cars are allowed to pick up drivers curbside at the airport when taxis are now relegated to the ends of the baggage claim areas.

"The system just needs to be fair," said Mike Wilkens, 36, an airport dispatcher for United Cab.

Last month, TIA moved cabs to the ends of the baggage claim area, where shuttles have been picking up customers for years. Airport spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan said it was just one more effort to increase the airport's ability to handle what has grown from 20-million people to 25-million people per year.

Because town cars and limo services are not contracted services, they don't fall under the same rules as cab drivers and are still allowed to meet their clients at the curbs.

Wilkens and driver Pierre Paul, 51, lamented the situation. They said fares are down about 30 percent. But both said Monday's efforts to strike were apparently poorly organized: They learned of the plan only that morning.

Greg Cox, director of the Public Transportation Commission, which regulates cabs in Tampa, said he checked out the airport situation Monday morning and found it running smoothly. Cox said he isn't worried about a strike. "I don't know if it will happen."

And if it did?

"There would be other modes of transportation available," he said.

[Last modified December 19, 2006, 05:50:13]