A new taxi company is about to launch in Denver, having overcome most of the roadblocks thrown up by the existing industry through procedures made available by the Public Utilities Commission.

Good luck to it. More competition often leads to better service and lower prices.

And what entrepreneur helped make this new company possible despite the deepening recession? Why, it's a union! Specifically, Local 7777 of the Communications Workers of America.

Entrepreneurial unions - not an easy oxymoron to get one's mind around.

"It's an ironic situation," admits Ed Szmajter, a principal in the enterprise, "but every now and then the stars align."

In other states, the CWA is following a more traditional path: planning for possible strikes against the various divisions of AT&T.

Union Taxi, as it is called, once hoped to have cabs on the road in time for the Democratic National Convention last August. But it grossly underestimated the lengthy process still required despite an effort by last year's legislature to increase taxi competition in the Denver area.

The company didn't win the PUC's oral approval until Dec. 29 and it is still awaiting the written order, the draft of which is rumored to have reached 150 pages. The deadline for its issue under PUC rules isn't until Feb. 27.

Even its release may not be the end of it. The Big Three - Yellow, Metro and Freedom - can ask the PUC for reconsideration and, failing that, protest anew in the court system.

Under the best of circumstances it could take at least two more months for the company to hit the streets.

The new enterprise will not be a sole proprietorship, partnership or stock company. Instead it will be run as a co-op, rather like the state's rural electric associations.

So far, 262 drivers, virtually all of whom now drive for the existing companies, have paid an undisclosed amount to join the co-op. And they've joined the CWA.

Unions now represent no taxi drivers because they are considered independent contractors by the Big Three.

"We've been trying to assist them in any way we can," said Local 7777 President Lisa Bolton. It lobbied the legislature for the bill which made PUC approval easier (by shifting the burden of proof from the applicant to the protesters) and is providing leased office space at its Englewood headquarters.

Abdi Buni, the co-op's transitional president, said it's already found four or five shops ready to give the driver-owned cabs a fresh white-and-green paint job, and obtained a call number: 303-922-2222.

He said the co-op will charge passengers less than the $2.25 per mile that Yellow and Metro charge per mile, but probably higher than Freedom's $1.80.

But the main attraction of the co-op, according to Buni, is that it will charge drivers only $800 a month for insurance, meter and dispatch service - well under the nearly $2,100 that drivers now have to pay the cab companies.

Buni has no intention of becoming a manager permanently. He wants to stay on the street. The general manager will be hired from outside by the board of directors. That search will be led by Szmajter, the co-op's board chairman.

In a co-op, the drivers will divide whatever profits might be earned during the course of a year, minus necessary capital investment. And so the question arises: How long will the drivers want to pay union dues?

"It's a question of loyalty," said Szmajter. "You remember the people who helped you. Having the backing of the the CWA and the AFL-CIO was very important to us." And being in a regulated industry, he said, they'll need continued union help at the legislature.

But the co-op's survival won't be easy. Old-timers recall that Yellow Cab was a co-op for a while in the 1970s, but it failed and had to be sold.

Peter Blake is a former Rocky Mountain News political columnist. He can be reached at pblake0705@comcast.net.