Cab drivers who work at Bush Intercontinental have filed a lawsuit in an effort to get the city to improve their working conditions:
Two miles from all the terminals at Bush Intercontinental Airport, sits this massive staging area for taxicabs.
It is a large parking lot where hundreds of drivers sit, wait and even at times sleep for four to six hours.
All that waiting for:
11 News: To pick up one person?
Cabbie: Yes to pick up a fare. Yes sir.
Then they return, just to hurry up and wait all over again.
But attorney Reginald McKamie says his clients; nearly 1,000 independent taxi cab drivers are victims of discrimination.
“These men and women are the ambassadors for Houston,” said McKamie. “They are living or working in deplorable conditions. They are working in conditions worse than Third World country conditions.”
McKamie points to bathroom and shower facilities in the staging area that he says are in horrible condition.
A few years ago, the city added the portable facilities and promised the cabbies they would have running water.
But?
“I assumed at this point that they would get around to it,” said cabbie Tommy Breedlove. “But I have been working out there for 20-years and they haven’t done anything.”
And Breedlove says they are forbidden to go to the bathroom at the terminals.
So, to get the city’s attention, the drivers have decided to file a federal discrimination suit.
[snip]
“They have had discussions with the mayor. He has ignored it. City council has ignored it. Something has to be done,” said McKamie.
As soon as Houston Airports Director Richard Vacar decides how he wants to handle this, Mayor White and City Council will act.
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