Cabs Threaten To Strike. Again.

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Nov 25, 2008 10:45PM

For what feels like the umpteenth time, Chicago's cabbies are demanding a fare hike and threatening to strike, but instead of just talking the talk, today they walked the walk. Literally. A group of cab drivers protested in the loop demanding an immediate 16 percent fare increase. Lest you forget, this shitstorm revolves around the dropping of the gas surcharge since gas prices have dropped below a set threshold, and the cabbies want the fare hike by January 1. City Hall hasn't complied but has said a hike is in works, though it wouldn't go into effect until Spring 2009 at the earliest. To get their point across, this group of cabbies claims they will strike for 24 hours starting at 2 p.m. on Sunday, which may or may not be effective with travellers returning home from the holiday. Because there's no alternative transportation from Chicago's airports.

But this time, there's a twist! It seems that some cabbies don't agree with their brethren and think a strike is pointless since there's going to be a fare increase eventually. WBBM spoke to Melissa Callahan who said, "The city has already agreed to give us a fare increase. They're proposing that in the springtime. This is completely senseless. There's no reason to strike right now. All this is is just a power play by a group of radicals." A voice of reason? Heaven forbid. These cabbies protested the protest by driving by with signs adorning their cabs and honking their horns endlessly. In short, it was probably really noisy today in the Loop.

Photo by Insomnia Jones, J.D.