Virginia Cabbies Go Co-op

This report, dated February 7th, is written by Michael Lee Pope for the Virginia-based Alexandria Gazette. It was posted in the news section of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives‘ website.

In 1982, city officials of Alexandria created a regulation restricting cab drivers from transferring to a company of their choice. According to the drivers, this ordinance gave the company owners all the power over them. So starting in 2001, they began public protests against this ordinance with help from a member of the City Council.

After four years of bureaucratic wrangling and negotiations, the 1982 regulations were revised and humanized. On New Year’s Day 2007, the Union Cab Co. began operations under the new regulations. It is the city’s first ever worker-owned and managed cab car cooperative, perhaps the first in Virginian history. Morale is high among the co-op’s driver-owners and the future looks bright.

This is Distributism in action on the local and urban level. The cab drivers own and operate their own company, giving much needed competition to their bigger rivals. Furthermore, the city government responded to enough pressure to change things for the better. Government operates best when it is the closest to the voters.

So contrary to what our Capitalist and Socialist detractors claim, Distributism DOES work in cities and towns as well as the countryside.

Congratulations to the driver-owners of Alexandria’s Union Cab Company and their families. God grant that you prosper.