CHICAGO — They drive you around all year. Now they're ready to drive you crazy.
For a third straight year, several Chicago cab drivers have shown their sexier side in the 2016 edition of the Chicago Taxi Driver Calendar.
The calendar, which has grown into something of a holiday tradition in Chicago, is a fundraiser for the cabbie's lawsuit against the city of Chicago, which is still being waged in court three years after the fundraiser was started.
A group of Chicago cab drivers has sued the city, alleging that the number of regulations on cabs makes them employees of the city. And since they are de-facto city employees, the city is violating minimum wage laws because cabbies earn less than the minimum wage, said Melissa Callahan, the cabbie who filed the lawsuit and directs the calendar fundraiser.
Related: Check Out The Original Chicago Cab Driver Calendar from 2013.
"A lot of these regulations, they're basically the same rules you have to follow" at an office job, Callahan said. "There are multiple studies that say we make less than minimum wage even with our tips."
A federal judge has recently ruled that the drivers are not city employees, Callahan said, but the group is appealing the ruling. And since they have filed for an appeal, the city has filed a motion to have the cabbies pay about $7,000 of the city's legal fees, she said.
"If I lose with the appellate court, I'll only have 30 days to pay that amount, which I don't currently have," Callahan said.
That is where Callahan is hoping the calendar comes in handy. Since 2013, the calendar and other fundraisers have garnered $34,000 for the suit.
Mr. September [Photo by Amanda Rivkin]
And for its third year, the calendar has gotten a tad more professional looking, even if it is slightly less racy than in years past.
Callahan said a professional photographer agreed to shoot the calendar this year after she heard of the project last year and wanted to help, Callahan said. In previous years, Callahan said she took the photos on her smart phone.
"She loved it and loved the cause, so this year we hired her," she said.
The calendar is still supposed to be a humorous take on the sexy calendar business, but Callahan admitted she had to tone it down a bit this year.
"Some of the drivers were concerned with how saucy it got last year," Callahan said. "I can't promise next year will be especially clean."
Mr. July George Kasp [Photo by Amanda Rivkin]
Still, Callahan said she has no problem enlisting drivers for the calendar. Some of them don't even need to be prodded — they'll ask when the next shoot is, she said.
"A lot of them really enjoy it," Callahan said. "I think it was harder in the beginning when people didn't know what to expect."
George Kasp has posed for the calendar for three straight years. He said he does it because of the cause, but also because it's fun, Kasp said.
Kasp, who has been driving since 1973, said he posed for a racy cabbie pictorial many years ago, after a racy ad in the union publication The Chicago Dispatch drew the ire of some of the more conservative drivers, he said.
Some "didn't look on it fondly," Kasp said, but "I thought this would be a fun way to sort of combat this PC-ness."
So, when Callahan called with the idea for a sexy cabbie calendar many years later, Kasp said, "Hey, I've still got the outfit!"
Mr. March, Chris Hussain [Photo by Amanda Rivkin]
Buy a 2016 cabbie calendar at the group's website here.
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