Where is your cover, soldier?

The other day I had a pretty normal morning to my workday. I was early guy, and I woke up feeling a bit fuzzy from the night before. Of course one of our clients had called in a run on our fastest service, which was due by 9:00am, and it got dispatched to me a little after 8:00, while I was still in my apartment. Knowing that I would have to hustle to get downtown and pull off the delivery on time, I grabbed my bike, bag, radio, and lock before heading out the door. I got about a block away from my house, and realized that I had forgotten my helmet. There was no turning back now, so I decided I would just have to suck it up and work all day without my cover.
On the surface, this doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. Un-concerned with the Illinois Messenger Ordinance, which states that all bike messengers must wear helmets while working in the bike zone of the city during business hours, many bike messengers in Chicago neglect to wear helmets every day while at work. The law is largely un-enforced in Chicago, especially over the last couple of years. But bike messengers have more to worry about than just getting a ticket. The Illinois Messenger Ordinance actually creates a loophole for drivers if they injure a bike messenger at work, and the messenger is not wearing a helmet. If the messenger suffers a head injury, the Illinois Messenger Ordinance can actually help the driver avoid liability for the injury, regardless of fault.
I thought about the Illinois Messenger Ordinance quite a bit while I was riding through the streets, with the wind gently caressing my head through my hair (it was actually really pleasant not wearing a helmet all day, despite the feeling that I might get nailed by a taxi and bust my head open on the pavement). There are a few things that bother me about the helmet law for messengers. The first of which is the problem I already mentioned about the loophole. The second is the fact that bike messengers are singled out and can be written a ticket for something that no other cyclist in the city can be written a ticket for. This law seems to target a segment of the workforce that can hardly afford to pay a fine for something which doesn’t affect anyone but the rider in question. The bottom line is there is no chance of you being hurt in any way because a bike messenger is not wearing a helmet. Many of the people who are liable to pay a fine for a helmet offence are living at or below the poverty level to begin with, and can neither afford to pay a $50.00 helmet ticket, or pay $40.00 to buy a helmet.
Which brings me to my next point; some Chicago Messenger companies are actually using the Illinois Messenger Ordinance to exploit their own employees. One company in particular, Arrow messenger, insists on selling helmets to their messengers at full retail value. I worked at Arrow at one point during my messenger career, and was very frustrated by this. I had recently purchased a nice helmet for $50.00 because I had just moved to Chicago and heard that you needed a helmet to work here. During my orientation at Arrow they explained to me that I would have to buy a helmet from them for $40.00. They showed it to me, and I said “No, that’s cool. I already have a helmet, and it is better than that one.”
The human resources person I was doing the orientation with said “Look, you have to buy the helmet, or you can’t work here.”
I gave in because I needed the job, but to this day it still bothers me. Looking at the history of the Illinois Messenger Ordinance makes the whole thing even more maddening. Phyllis Applebaum (owner of arrow Messenger) was the Chair of the Illinois Messenger Association (the organization for messenger company owners), and she also sat on the Mayors Bicycle advisory council when the Illinois Messenger Ordinance was passed. She has personally profited from the sale of helmets to her employees since the ordinance passed, regardless of the section of the ordinance which reads ”every licensee shall supply each bicycle operator operating on the licensee’s behalf: (1) a safety helmet meeting nationally recognized safety requirements”.
These are the kind of things that we need to stop. The CCU was less powerful when the Illinois Messenger Ordinance was passed than it is now. As our membership increases, so does our power. We need to oppose the company owners when they try to exploit us. It may not seem like a big deal, but small things like adding the helmet law into the Illinois Messenger Ordinance has cost Chicago bike messengers thousands of dollars since it has passed. Every little bit of money that a messenger company owner can squeeze out of their employees adds up to a huge amount that goes into their pockets. Who do you think actually needs it more?