Undermine Authority
TLC Staff Sees Red Over Yellow Lights

By ARI PAUL

The union representing Inspectors at the Taxi and Limousine Commission claims that workers lack the necessary equipment to conduct inspections.

GREGORY FLOYD: Changes for the worse.

Since late 2005, Inspectors have been using yellow lights and no sirens instead of red lights with sirens. Management also took away the traditional Chevrolet Impalas and replaced them with hybrid Toyota Priuses. The city's 200 Inspectors, who are members of Teamsters Local 237, are responsible for enforcing taxi and limousine laws and citing unlicensed drivers and impounding vehicles.

Lost Their Identity

These changes made the inspection vehicles, according to some Inspectors, unidentifiable as law-enforcement cars, resulting in a more-dangerous job and a less-efficient inspection force.

Deputy Commissioner Pansy Mullings took away the red lights and the sirens and told workers that this was done on City Hall's orders, though the union said it has never seen any evidence of an executive decision. Workers protested, but to no avail.

The commission switched to the hybrid vehicles because they are more fuel-efficient and emit fewer pollutants, but Local 237 does not believe the environmental concerns outweigh the benefits traditional law-enforcement vehicles have for workers. The union filed a grievance about the Toyota Priuses, and Inspectors are currently using Chevrolet Impalas from 2000, some of which have up to 70,000 miles on the odometer.

The siren and lights issue also remains. According to Local 237 President Greg Floyd, Inspectors often pursue taxis and limousines for five or six blocks before drivers realize that they need to pull over. He said that when Inspectors call for back-up upon encountering hostile drivers, responders are impeded because civilian drivers do not yield to cars with only yellow lights. The union felt this situation put workers at risk.

In April, a group of Inspectors and Mr. Floyd presented their complaints to the City Council Civil Service and Labor Committee.

Hurt Productivity

The union argued that the issue of red lights and sirens is about more than worker safety. It claimed that Inspectors were unable to stop as many people operating taxis and limousines illegally as they were prior to Deputy Commissioner Mullings' change.

Commission officials did not comment, as the grievance is still being processed.

The union's leadership is optimistic that the City Council will alleviate the problem. Local 237 may also seek legal action against the commission over the current equipment and the fact that other peace officers have the equipment it is demanding.

"We're not asking for something new," said Mr. Floyd of sirens and red lights. "We're asking for something they had all along and it worked."