(Click on the image above to see the video, which features NYTWA Organizing Committee members, Javaid Tariq and Mohammed Jamil Hussain, among various workers)

Viewers in Austin, Texas, and Pittsburgh are getting the first public look at a new AFL-CIO television spot, "Work Connects Us All: America's Unions."

The evocative ad features members of many unions, from virtually every industry, and is part of a broad campaign that aims to "fly above the tactics and controversies of the day" and connects with people around the values associated with work, according to AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler.

Rounding out the campaign's features are social media and online ads, and a dynamic, interactive website, www.WorkConnectsUsAll.org.  Read more on their blog here.

You can also watch the video in Spanish.

Turn out for the TLC Public Hearing! Thursday, January 19th @ 10:00am, 33 Beaver Street, 22nd Floor!

Taxi Receipts: The Next Frontier for Advertising (WNYC, 1/18/12)

Hacks Mad for Ad $$ (NY Post, 1/20/12)

Hard working taxi drivers who haven't had a raise since May 2004, shouldn't have to provide charity to 5th Avenue advertisers, taxi technology vendors or taxi garages.  It's drivers' labor, customer service, gas money and lease.  They should have the ad money.   The TLC should regulate to deduct the owner's revenue from drivers' leases.   Drivers paid for the GPS technology either in direct fees or higher leases.  To this day, they've never seen any of that money.  Drivers also pay more in fuel and the lights for rooftop ads.  But again, no revenue.  The books on all ad revenue should be opened.

Download the Flyer (PDF)

(Click the image above to go to the video on NY1's page)

Let's keep up the protests!

Since the 2004 fare raise, garages have raised our leases and watched our incomes plummet while their medallion is now valued at $1 million dollars.  When gas prices soared, they did nothing to share the burden.  When the MTA tax cut our tips and smaller trips, they did nothing to share the burden.  When credit card fares started taking over and cutting our incomes, they gladly took the 5% surcharge.

Now, after the TLC actually did the right thing and said the lease cap includes all taxes, fees and surcharges, including the sales tax - they paid millions of dollars to sue us in state court for $4.77 per shift.  They have million dollar lawyers, million dollar lobbyists, but can't spare a lousy $4.77 from us.  For drivers, it's a loss of 5% in their income when there is hardly anything left to lose.

STAND UP & FIGHT BACK.  ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

The New York State Court of Appeals made a devastating ruling on Thursday, December 15th, stating that garages can charge us sales tax (now at $4.77 per shift) above the TLC's lease caps.  The garages, represented by Midtown Garage Owner Ron Sherman and his Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade (MTBOT), sued the city when the TLC passed a rule banning them from the pass-along in 2009.  They lost.  The TLC would have to redo their rulemaking process in order to change this.

Please know that the court did not say that the TLC does not have the power to stop the garages.  The court only said that the TLC has to follow a different rulemaking process than they did. The TLC has the power.  And we will organize to make them use it.  The garages don't have to add the tax above the lease cap.  They are choosing to charge us more.  Garages did not even wait 24 hours.  They started charging immediately, even to day drivers who were mid-shift when the ruling came out.

For Immediate Release: December 15, 2011

For More Information, Call:  Bhairavi Desai, NYTWA Executive Director, 212-627-5248

NYTWA Calls on TLC to Act Immediately

Today's decision by the New York State Court of Appeals is devastating.  Annulling the TLC regulation which prevented garages from passing along the sales tax as a separate and additional cost to drivers will basically mean that taxi drivers will now pay $4.77 more per shift, above leases that are already devastatingly high for drivers.  The highest court in the State of New York has shown themselves to be unsympathetic and cruel to the needs of over 40,000 driver families.

Under leasing, drivers pay up front $105 to $129 per shift.  Plus, we pay for fuel and other lesser shift expenses.  Even when gas hit over $4, not one fleet owner - majority bought their medallions decades ago - took off even $5 from the lease.  Drivers have no guaranteed income.  If the car breaks down or you're injured mid-shift of fall ill, the lease is already paid.  Fleets are guaranteed their profits.  They bear none of the risks of the street and pass along the cost of business down to drivers through exorbitant leases.  On the other hand, even with the amount of wealth they amass from drivers' labor, fleets don't have to pay one dime toward our incomes or well being.  There are no paychecks, employer tax contributions, health care, disability insurance or retirement pension.  We fend for ourselves daily.

Meanwhile, fleets have seen the value of their medallions go from $30,000 in 1970 to $1 million.  In these same four decades, drivers have suffered devastating losses while wealthy and politically influential fleet owners have made out like bandits.  The same fleets have also been overcharging drivers for years on the lease cap by charging regular weekly driver by each day separately, instead of the TLC's weekly cap.  It's been a difference of over $200 per week.  Now, they'll charge $33.39 more per week, a tune of $1,736 for the year.  Imagine being told by the state's highest court that your boss can cut your paycheck by almost $2,000 a year.  Petitioner MTBOT claims the judgment to be a victory for the "taxi industry" and loss to Mayor Bloomberg.  We beg to differ.  The victory is solely for them and their wealthy corporate friends.  The loss is to thousands of hard-working taxi drivers who fleets seek to keep under their financial control.

In a shameless act of corporate bias, the board opined:  

"And the Commission does not explain why, if it believed adding sales tax on top of the Standard Lease Caps to be unlawful under the old regulations, it permitted taxi owners to do so openly for a decade."

So if the city turns a blind eye to a policy harmful to workers and another administration rights the wrong, do the highest jurors of our state really believe that's reason to strike down the pro-worker regulation?  Where do drivers find justice if not in our legal system?  Why are our livelihoods second-class to the wealth of millionaire fleet owners?

We call upon the TLC to enact rulemaking as the appeal decision itself suggests:  

"On the other hand, if the Commission chose to reduce its Standard Lease Caps in order to offset the burden of sales tax on drivers, that would present no obvious Tax Law problem."

The daily livelihood of thousands of taxi drivers and our families are at stake.  We can't afford a downward slide when we're already at the bottom.

Download the PDF

Expect to see a poster at every garage, brokerage, and meter shop in the next few months, informing taxi drivers of their rights.

Thank you to all the members who came out to the TLC Public Hearing where drivers packed the room!

It should now be clear and undeniable to all in the industry that, among other protections, drivers have:

• the right to not be overcharged on the lease
• the right to a receipt and a contract
• the right to not be punished if you file a complaint against the garage or broker

The rules are not new themselves but it is easier to make reference to them when they are printed on a large poster, always present, and stated in understandable terms.

Click here to watch "It's Just A Poster".  On August 30, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a rule that requires companies to notify employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (rights they've had for 70 years) -- simply by hanging a poster.

National Taxi Workers Alliance Becomes 57th National Union of AFL-CIO.

On October 20th, 2011 we became the 57th union of the AFL-CIO.  We are the first non-traditional workforce (non-employees) to be granted membership in over 60 years, and the first one in the history of independent contractors.  Political Support.  Organizing Strength.  Member Benefits.  Solidarity.  In one word: Power.

For the first time in the taxi industry, we the drivers will have a national voice.  We have our independence and maintain our identity.

We thank the visionary leadership of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and the Members of the Executive Council for their support.  We also thank U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis for joining us for the ceremony.

Following our charter ceremony, we attended the board meeting of the 5-million strong International Transportation Workers Federation which unanimously voted to grant the National Taxi Workers Alliance ITF affiliation.  After 15 years of struggle, strikes, demonstrations and membership drives - we the drivers have taken back what the taxi bosses stole from us years ago.  Upward and onward.  Drivers united will never be defeated!!!

Click Here to See the Ceremony Video

Read "City Taxi Drivers' Organization Joins AFL-CIO"

Read "Taxi Workers Become a Union -- Officially"

Watch the Live Broadcast of

AFL-CIO Official Charter

Signing Ceremony

to Inaugurate

NATIONAL TAXI WORKERS ALLIANCE

http://www.aflcio.org/webcast_oct20.cfm

Stand with taxi drivers, our allies and U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis as President Richard Trumka welcomes us into the house of labor with the first "Organizing Committee" charter in over 60 years.

Thursday, October 20th

3pm-5pm

AFL-CIO Headquarters

815 16th St., N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20006

10/19/11 For Immediate Release.

For More Information, Please E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

New York Taxi Workers Alliance announced that on October 18^th, police arrested the assailant who choked, punched and bit taxi driver Haroon Rashid, 40, on the ear during a violent attack on October 2^nd at 11pm on 10^th Avenue and 57^th Street.  The two police officers dispatched to the scene threatened to arrest the wounded driver even though the passenger was the clear aggressor.  They then let the perpetrator walk away scot-free, without even an incident report.  The driver had been seated in the front seat while the perpetrator grabbed his neck through the crack in the partition window, and repeatedly punched him in the head and arms, before viciously biting his right ear.  Mr. Rashid required 10 stitches.  While the NYPD initially denied even receiving a 911 call from Mr. Rashid, his union, NYTWA, stood with him and demanded an investigation of the incident and the police officers' conduct.

"I feel satisfaction that at least there was some justice.  He should not think that he can do this to taxi drivers and just walk away.  When we come to work, we are thinking how to earn our living and pay the lease, we should not have to suffer with this kind of violence too," said Mr. Rashid.

Drivers are now awaiting the Internal Affairs Bureau's findings.  "Two uniformed officers on a busy New York street set a man free in plain public view while the taxi driver sat bleeding and wounded in the front seat.  They need to be held accountable so the message can trickle down that taxi drivers are to be protected, not abused," said NYTWA Executive Director Bhairavi Desai.

NYTWA is also calling for Albany to pass the Taxi Driver Protection Act, increasing the penalties on crimes against drivers and requiring a sticker warning against crimes against drivers, similar to the signs in subways and buses.  Drivers also say the Taxi Squad, deployed for mostly traffic tickets against the city's 26,000-active driver workforce who labor 60-hour shifts without guaranteed income or healthcare or other benefits, should be used to investigate crimes against drivers and engage in public education to reduce the dangers.

Download PDF HERE

At the September 15, 2011 TLC Public Hearing, the TLC Board of Commissioners and Chairman David Yassky officially ordered brokers to turn in copies of their contracts with drivers.  Brokers were claiming that drivers should not get rooftop ad control because it affects the liability insurance on their medallions.  After New York Taxi Workers Alliance members began shouting, "LIES! LIES! LIES!", TLC Board Members started strongly questioning the brokers' lawyer and demanded documentation of their claims.

AS THE TLC INVESTIGATES GARAGES' AND BROKERS' OVERCHARGES, NYTWA NEEDS COPIES OF LATEST CONTRACTS AND RECEIPTS.

One member reported to us that his broker charges $1,400 per week and has done so for three years.  With $800 being the legal medallion lease limit (a $600 difference!) that means the broker will collect over $93,000 extra for the sale of the car.  WE CANNOT TOLERATE THIS ANY LONGER.  We can fight it.  We need drivers to stand up and do one simple thing: bring in, fax or mail to us a copy of your latest receipt from the broker or garage.

NYTWA can keep your information confidential.  But we need the broker and garage name and the amounts.

THE TLC IS  FINALLY HEARING US.  Act Now!  Turn our complaints into action and seize the moment. For the past 40 years, the TLC only harassed us, and also gave a free hand to garages/brokers to rule over our lives.  Now, finally, after 15 years of steady work by the NYTWA, the TLC is putting pressure on and taking action against garages/brokers.  This is OUR time to remain united, stand up and WIN.

Download Flyer HERE

photo: Jay Mallin

Congratulations, taxi drivers!  On August 3rd, the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO voted unanimously to welcome the Taxi Workers Alliance into the house of labor with a national Organizing Committee charter to unionize taxi drivers throughout the United States.  This is the first time a new union has been given membership by the AFL-CIO in over fifty years.  It will mean greater power, influence and resources for the fight for justice, rights, respect and dignity for tens of thousands of taxi drivers.  The official charter will be authorized by President Trumka October 20th, during a signing ceremony.

Read the full story here:  Taxi Workers Seek AFL-CIO Membership.

NYTWA's very own newspaper, Shift Change, is back.  We're at the airports and on the street, giving it out to taxi drivers.  It's also available at our office, so do come by and pick up a copy.

Download a PDF of the August issue by clicking HERE or on the picture above!

Win Driver Control of Rooftop Ads!

TLC Chairman Yassky Proposes to Require Brokers to Get Drivers' Permission in order to install a rooftop ad!

Voice your support as 9-member TLC Board Votes on the Proposal!

TLC PUBLIC HEARING

Thursday, July 21^st

10:00am

33 Beaver St., 19^th Floor

(Subway:  R to Whitehall Street / 4 or 5 to Bowling Green / 1 to South Ferry)

We need drivers who own the car and lease the medallion from the broker to testify at the hearing and voice your support of the proposal.  The brokers will be there, arguing against our rights.  Drivers are needed at the hearing to WIN OUR RIGHTS!

Sign up to speak on NYTWA delegation: Call 212-627-5248 by 5pm on Wednesday, July 20th.

Download PDF of Flyer

On June 20th, 2011 NYTWA reached an agreement with the Mayor's Office and TLC Chairman David Yassky for first-time rights and higher income if the new bill passes giving street hail rights to liveries only in areas underserved by us in the outer boroughs and upper Manhattan.  The bill passed Senate and Assembly on Friday, June 24th, 2011.

A NEW DAY HAS DAWNED IN THE TAXI INDUSTRY.

The Drivers Have Won.

After 10 years of illegal pick ups, we have secured central core of Manhattan and the Airports for ourselves!  Also, through the Taskforce established in the bill, we will still have protected exclusive street hail rights in five parts of each of the outer boroughs where our presence is already established.  Owner-drivers will now stay protected: you will make enough as drivers to pay the mortgage AND fellow drivers will make enough so the market will have buyers.

WHAT WE WON!

Agreement reached between NYTWA and the Mayor's Office & TLC if bill passes.

• ENFORCEMENT against illegal pick-ups! NYC will establish first-ever "anti-illegal street hails enforcement unit" with no less than 60 officers just to protect Manhattan and the Airports for yellow cab drivers!  Unit will be double enforcement at the Airports along with Port Authority.  TLC will establish further anti-illegal street hail enforcement: through use of GPS and other technologies, facility to tow licensed AND unlicensed (state plates) plates, and right to repossess cars that are taking our fares.
• Turn rights! NYTWA will work with TLC and Department of Transportation on turn rights for taxis (the same as buses).
• Protection against lease cap overcharges! TLC will form first-ever "lease cap violations enforcement unit" to police garages and brokers who overcharge drivers and pass new rules to protect our incomes from high leases.
• Gradual introduction of new medallions! TLC agrees to slowly phase in new vehicles: new medallions will be issued 500 at a time over three years - not all at once! For first time, TLC will also conduct a study on the impact of the new vehicles on drivers' incomes, before issuing more medallions.
• Health Fund! TLC and NYTWA will create a Task Force to create the first-ever Taxi Driver Health and Wellness Fund.
• Lower Credit Card Fees! TLC will reduce credit card transaction fees from 5% down to 4% and will explore reducing debit card fees even lower.

For Immediate Release: June 20, 2011

Taxi Workers Alliance Endorses

Mayor Bloomberg's Five Borough Plan

City and Union Develop Program to

Economically Secure Taxi Drivers

Press Conference

June 20, 2011

4pm

City Hall Steps

Today, June 20^th, 2011, we have addressed a problem that has been viewed for decades as intractable.  Through the hard work of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission Chairman David Yassky and the Mayor's Office, we believe we have developed a program that ensures the economic security of yellow taxi cab drivers, our members, and provides service to the communities of the city that have been traditionally underserved.  Therefore, we add our support to S-5825-2011 / A-8496.

Drivers will also rally to call upon Albany to pass the Taxi Driver Protection Act, a state-wide law that would require a sign in every taxi and for-hire-vehicle across the state:  ATTENTION:  Assaulting a Taxi Driver is Punishable Up to Twenty-Five Years in Prison.

Download PDF of Flyer

Taxi Driver Protection Act (TDPA) Update:

The Assembly Codes Committee already passed the bill.  We're waiting for the Assembly Rules Committee to do the same.  Now we need to move the bill in the Senate, so be sure to Call the Chairman of the Senate Codes Committee, Stephen M. Saland (518-455-2411).  Ask him to pass the Taxi Driver Protection Act!

(Click the image above to see our June 13th trip to Albany)

Download PDF of Flyer

(Click image above to see our May 4th Press Conference)

141 Yes, 1 No - Assembly. 60 Yes, 0 No - Senate. 1 Veto - Governor.

In a heartbreaking turn of events, Governor Paterson vetoed the first measure of protection for taxi workers in over 20 years.

Justice delayed will not be justice denied. We are more committed than ever in making sure taxi workers – thirty times more likely to be killed on the job than other workers and eighty times more likely to be robbed – have our lives valued.

We call upon Assembly Speaker Silver, Senate Majority Leader Sampson and Governor Paterson to reconcile their “technical” differences and pass a law this session to evidence the concern and commitment which they say they all share for the lives of over 200,000 workers in the state they govern. We’re pretty sure that legislating to protect poor people isn’t pandering, it’s good government.

To our families and allies, we say only one thing: Organize. Organize. Organize. We Will Not Rest Until We Win.

Read story at New York Times. City Room.

September 20, 2010, 4:00 pm

A Veto of a Cabby Bill, and Countdown Walk Signals

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

Gov. David A. Paterson vetoed a bill over the weekend that would have significantly increased the legal penalties for assaults against cabbies, overturning a nearly unanimous vote in the Legislature.

A product of months of lobbying by drivers’ groups, the Taxi Driver Protection Act would have required yellow cabs and livery cars to post a sticker notifying passengers that an assault on a driver “is punishable by up to 25 years in prison,” a warning similar to those found on the region’s subways and commuter trains.

The bill, which passed both houses in June, would also have required judges to tack five additional years onto prison terms for a felony assault on a driver and instated a mandatory two-year minimum for misdemeanor assaults.

It was the latter requirement that hit a gubernatorial snag. In a memo accompanying his veto, Mr. Paterson, while acknowledging that cabbies engage in “a dangerous profession,” argued that the bill would have subverted the legal meaning of a misdemeanor, traditionally defined as an offense punishable by a year’s prison term or less.

To Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, the veto — and its justification on a technicality — came as a shock. “It’s heartbreaking, but it’s enraging,” she said on Monday. “There’s no doubt that drivers are among the most vulnerable workers in New York state. It was the first time we had hope that a bill would be passed.”

Ms. Desai pointed to the recent attack on a Muslim cabby whose throat was slashed by, the authorities say, a college student, as an example of the “brutal” working conditions faced by drivers. “This was the desire of a work force to get home safe at the end of a shift,” she said.

The legislation had the support of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, whose office urged Mr. Paterson earlier this month to sign the bill, and the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission. But Mr. Paterson insisted that the “sentencing anomalies” created by the legislation would further complicate an already byzantine state legal system.

The bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Rory I. Lancman, a Queens Democrat, said the decision was “a real shame.”

“Every day that we delay giving taxi drivers additional protection from assault, it creates a statistical certainty that some number of taxi drivers are going to get assaulted because we failed to protect them,” Mr. Lancman said. “And whatever technical concern the governor might have had about the methodology could have been resolved the next time we were in session in Albany.”

In his veto message, Mr. Paterson chided Mr. Lancman specifically, asserting that the assemblyman supported the measure “perhaps because of the pandering opportunity presented by the political appeal of this particular bill.”

“That’s not even a press release — this is the official governor’s veto message!” said Mr. Lancman, who discovered the passage while on the telephone with Off the Rails. “That is really shocking, and kind of inappropriate. I’m a big boy, I’m used to it, but that is shocking and inappropriate.”

The governor’s office had no comment beyond Mr. Paterson’s written statement.

Letter from NYTWA

September 7, 2010

Honorable Governor David A. Paterson
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

SUPPORT Taxi Driver Protection Act! A.10058-B (Lancman) / S.7022-B (Adams)

Dear Honorable Governor Paterson,

Greetings. On behalf of the 13,800+ members of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, I am writing to urge you to sign the Taxi Driver Protection Act [A.10058-B (Lancman) / S.7022-B (Adams)] to increase the penalty of an assault on taxi drivers and require warning signs in the back of taxis. Everyday, we hear new cases of a taxi worker being assaulted, and the majority of times it is with a weapon or in the presence of other members of the public. Too much blood has been shed, too many drivers have been wounded (many permanently) and too many driver families have been deeply traumatized. This bill is our first hope of deterrence in over twenty years for our workforce, ranked time and again among the most vulnerable in the country. We urge you to sign the Taxi Driver Protection Act and help keep 100,000 workers safe on the job.

Two weeks ago, our member Ahmed Sharif was victim to a brutal hate crime, leaving him with knife wounds around his neck, arm and hand. Ahmed was stabbed, requiring 45 stitches, after the perpetrator asked him, “Are you Muslim.” We proudly stood with Ahmed as he called for tolerance and equality against the climate of hate, and while he echoed the cry of hundreds of drivers before him in support of protection for taxi workers. Just two months prior to Ahmed’s incident, another member had been viciously stabbed requiring 18 stitches. Since Ahmed’s stabbing, we have had seven new incidents of vicious attacks.

There is no doubt that protection for taxi workers is needed and it is needed urgently. Drivers are thirty times more likely to be killed on the job than other workers nationwide. Let NYS be a leader in calling for protection for taxi workers. Our industry regulator, Taxi and Limousine Commission Chairperson David Yassky, has endorsed the Taxi Driver Protection Act. The bill has passed the state legislature almost unanimously in both houses and in record time. We ask you Governor to sign the bill into law and show a united front in defense of taxi workers and our inalienable right to return home safe after a long day’s work.

We urge you to sign the Taxi Driver Protection Act at your earliest and to allow us to stand next to you on the historic day. We hope to witness the moment ourselves firsthand to tell the story of when taxi workers in New York State were told unequivocally that our lives will be protected.

Respectfully Submitted,

Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director
New York Taxi Workers Alliance

New York Daily News coverage of press conference

Associated Press coverage of press conference

Reuters story

For immediate release: August 26, 2010

PRESS CONFERENCE
THURSDAY, AUGUST 26TH, 2010
1:00PM
City Hall Steps

Ahmed H. Sharif, 43, a yellow taxi cab driver slashed across the neck, face and shoulders by a passenger during an anti-Muslim hate crime will stand with fellow New York Taxi Workers Alliance members, and community, immigrant and Muslim organizations to call for an end to the bigotry and anti-Islamic rhetoric in the debate around the Park 51 Islamic Cultural Center, referred to as the Ground Zero Mosque.  “I feel very sad.  I have been here more than 25 years.  I have been driving a taxi more than 15 years.  All my four kids were born here.  I never feel this hopeless and insecure before,” said Mr. Sharif.  “Right now, the public sentiment is very serious (because of the Ground Zero Mosque debate.)  All drivers should be more careful.”

On Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 Mr. Sharif picked up the perpetrator at 24th Street and Second Avenue, his first fare for the shift, and headed toward Times Square.  The man, 21, started out friendly, asking Mr. Sharif about where he was from, how long he had been in America, if he was Muslim and if he was observing fast during Ramadan.  He then first became silent for a few minutes and then suddenly started cursing and screaming.  There, at about 6:15pm at Third Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets, he yelled, “Assalamu Alaikum.  Consider this a checkpoint,” and then slashed Mr. Sharif across the neck.  As Mr. Sharif went to knock the knife out, the perpetrator, continuing to scream loudly, cut the taxi driver in the face (from nose to upper lip), arm and hand.

“While a minority of has-been politicians spew ignorance and fear, it’s the working person on the street who has to face the consequences,” said NYTWA Executive Director Bhairavi Desai.  “This kind of bigotry only breeds more violence and makes taxi drivers all the more vulnerable on the streets where there are no bully pulpits or podiums to hide behind.”  The US Department of Labor reports taxi drivers to be thirty times more likely to be killed on the job than other workers.

The 13,000-member NYTWA called on the District Attorney to be vigilant in its prosecution of the attempted murder and hate crime and urged the Governor to sign the Taxi Driver Protection Act, passed by the state legislature on June 26th, 2010, increasing penalties on crimes against taxi drivers and requiring a sign in all taxis, “WARNING:  Assaulting a Taxi Driver is Punishable by Up to Twenty-Five Years in Prison.”  “Maybe if the warning sign was there, this kind of stranger who comes to us with hatred would have to think twice,” said Anwar Hossain.  “At least we could feel safer and not alone.  No matter what political issue is going on, at least we could be treated as equal Americans and feel protected.”

Click here for PDF of press release

We are pleased to announce that TLC Chairperson David Yassky will be joining us at the LaGuardia Airport Main Lot to meet with drivers. Please join us and speak directly with Chairman Yassky about issues that are most important to you. We all know the issues. Let the head industry regulator know your solutions. Park in the lot and use your time fighting for driver power!

Download flyer with more details

or view on our website here

For Immediate Release: June 25, 2010

Assembly: 141 Yes / 1 No ; Senate: 60 Yes / 0 No

On Friday, June 25th at about 4:30pm, in a unanimous vote—60 Yes, 0 no—the NYS Senate passed the Taxi Driver Protection Act sponsored by Senator Eric Adams. The Assembly passed the same bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Rory Lancman, on Tuesday, June 22nd in a vote of 141 to 1. The Taxi Driver Protection Act increases the penalties on assaults against taxicab, black car, and livery drivers and requires a sticker in every taxicab: "WARNING: Assaulting A Taxi Driver Is Punishable By Up To Twenty-Five Years In Prison." On misdemeanor assaults which carry maximum one year prison, the penalty will increase to a mandatory two year prison term if the victim is a driver. On felony assaults, there will be a penalty enhancement of five additional years to the term if the victim is a driver. The bill now goes to the Governor for signing. Within ten days, the bill will become law.

We are overjoyed beyond words.

We raise this victory in prayer to our brother Shajedur Rahman who, four and a half years later, remains in a vegetative state after recovering from a coma following an assault on October 2, 2005. We are indebted to his beautiful wife Shahida and their three beautiful girls whose courage has guided this campaign at every step and juncture.

We are so thankful to our superb Sponsors, Assemblyman Lancman who championed and authored the bill with unbelievable precision and commitment and the incomparable Senator Adams who kept up our spirits and championed a ninth inning rally to bring home the victory!

We want to especially recognize staff Allison Weingarten and Brad Fischer for their unwavering dedication to the protection of taxi workers.

We also thank Taxi and Limousine Commission Chairman David Yassky who endorsed the campaign within just days of taking his new post.

We are humbled by our injured brothers and sisters who have graciously taken some of the most traumatic moments of their lives and used them for a lifetime of protection for their fellow drivers. This campaign was born in the hospital bed of our brother Mamnun Ul Haq, co-founder of NYTWA, who despite shooting pain from the wounds of a 10-inch hunting knife, imagined a political solution where justice lay in the future, not a bitter past. We salute with admiration all the sisters and brothers who have stood with us at press conferences and hearing rooms, retelling their nightmare for a better tomorrow: Mamnun Ul Haq, Neeru Singh, Mohammad Chowdhury, Enois Malbranche, Ousmane Drame, Ndiaye Serigne, Jangbir Singh, Syed Salman, Abubakar Abdallah, Jamil Hussain, Zakir Howlader, Amarjit Singh Soni, Gurmail Singh, Frederick Dsouza, among thousands.

This victory was shouldered by the members of NYTWA who made the trek to Albany, sacrificing income, sleep, rest, paying lease out of pocket and covering the trip costs themselves. You are our heroes.

May this victory—won in an unprecedented six weeks of mobilization—be the shining reminder that unity is power and workers united will never be defeated.

At the end of the day, after all other reflection, may this victory above all serve as a dedication to the brothers and sisters we have lost through the years. May their loved ones know we never forgot. We dedicate to you, Mohammad Elwaleed, Mohammad Butt, Ibrahima Doukare, Humayun Laskar, in our loving memory.

Download press release here

Download Flyer here and outreach to fellow drivers!

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/34881/

By Helena Zhu
Epoch Times Staff

NEW YORK—Two more taxi drivers reported Thursday assault on the job, just weeks after a driver was slashed across the neck and barely survived. Now local officials are raising support for a bill that will toughen penalties for assaulting a taxi driver.

The two recently assaulted drivers include Abubakar Abdallah, 46, and Jangbir Singh, 45. Abdallah who was left bleeding from cuts on the face and shoulder and a fractured nose, before five attackers took his taxi and collided into a private car. Singh was spat at, racially slandered, and assaulted in the arm with a metal pipe. Singh's passenger, a tourist returning to Canada, witnessed the scene while screaming in the backseat. 

“We need an anti-violence bill to stop yellow cabs from being turned into moving targets,” said 30-year veteran driver Beresford Simmons in a press release. “These assaults leave us drivers and even our riders and others on the street vulnerable and injured.”

Abdallah and Singh joined the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) to call for a “Day of Enough is Enough: Respect our Labor. Protect our Lives” on May 25. All participating taxis will be decorated with symbolic red ribbons and go for a motorcade to Albany to urge the passage of the Taxi Driver Protection Act.

Introduced by Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Queens) and state Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) and endorsed by newly appointed Taxi & Limousine Commission Chairman David Yassky, the act would make assaults against drivers a felony and require warning signs inside taxis, same as the ones already in buses and subways. 

Both Abdallah and Singh said they will join the taxi caravan to the state capital, hoping their suffering will not be in vain. 

“I want the blood that I shed to have meaning and not be ignored,” said Abdallah.

If you lease from a GARAGE:

Are you a weekly driver paying above the weekly TLC maximum lease cap (more than $666 per driver for non-hybrids or $687 per driver for hybrids)?

__ YES __ NO

Has a garage charged you for “sales tax” above the daily TLC maximum lease cap ($105 for day-time; $115-$129 for nights)?

__ YES __ NO

Are you required to “tip” the dispatcher in order to get a cab?

__ YES __ NO

If you lease from a BROKER:

Is your broker charging you a surcharge called a “vehicle fee” or an “additional driver fee”?

__ YES __ NO

Has your broker removed the medallion off your car and not replaced it?

__ YES __ NO

If you answer is YES to any of these questions, you may have a LAWSUIT and you and other drivers could be entitled to a refund.

If you would like to pursue legal action or learn more about your rights, call:

New York Taxi Workers Alliance

at 212-627-5248

Download flyer here

Immigrant Rights Activists Rally In New York City
New York's PIX11 / WPIX-TV
"... here to say there's more of us here in this country that are against the Arizona proposal," added Bhairavi Desai of New York's Taxi Workers Alliance. ...
<http://www.wpix.com/news/wpix-immigration-protests-nyc,0,3865799.story>

NYTWA Marches onto Wall Street with Unionized Labor
http://www.ny1.com/1-all-boroughs-news-content/117792/local-community-groups-rally-in-support-of-financial-reform

Union Brings Taxi Drivers' Fight to National Leaders

For Immediate Release: November 30, 2009

A New York Taxi Workers Alliance delegation traveled to Washington, D.C. to bring the plight of New York City taxi drivers directly to the President himself. Executive Director Bhairavi Desai and co-founder and Organizing Committee member Javaid Tariq represented the union at President Barack Obama's first and highly anticipated state dinner, held on Tuesday, November 24th in honor of the visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "When we first met President Obama on the receiving line, he said, '(y)ou know I was an organizer too'," reported Ms. Desai. "This was such an honor for us. I remember the days when the old Mayor wouldn't allow us to enter City Hall. And here we were in the White House.

Click here to read full release

The garages’ association, the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade (MTBOT), lost their state lawsuit to limit the TLC’s powers over them and basically leave drivers defenseless. They wanted to charge taxes above the lease cap, limit TLC’s authority to only raise caps—never lower them, and require owner profits—not driver income and health —to be the chief factor in deciding on caps. Millionaire garages claim if the new TLC rules stay, they will go bankrupt. Thirty years ago, with leasing, they took away drivers’ right to a union. Now they want to take away our right to regulatory protection. Under representation by lawyers from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, NYTWA submitted key affidavits against the garages.

Click here for full list of lease caps by each shift and latest campaign flyer.

Fair Taxi Tax Collection The meter went up by fifty cents on November 1, 2009 but not one penny goes to the driver. In fact, on fares paid by credit card, and disputed or voided fares or fare beatings, drivers will lose money. Who will profit? First, the MTA – who is expected to rake in over $70 million in revenue. Second, The Garages and Brokers – who will accumulate up to three-months of interest on the money collected from the drivers; for a 250-car fleet, over $37,000 within a year. Click here for details.

Traffic Rights for Taxi Drivers! During a meeting with Department of Transportation officials and transit experts on Tuesday, March 3rd, a New York Taxi Workers Alliance delegation comprised of Osman Chowdhury, Bhairavi Desai, William Lindauer and Javaid Tariq, presented a list of proposals to ensure traffic rights for the city’s busiest and only 24-hour motorists.  “Right now, both the driver and the passenger suffer when taxis are stuck in traffic.  Sometimes, the rider leaves us mid-way so we lose the fare and are stuck in gridlocks we would have avoided if we were just empty,” said Javaid Tariq.  NYTWA proposed the right of occupied taxis to use bus lanes, exemption from turn restrictions, more turning space in smaller lanes and taxi drop-off/pick-up stands, especially near Penn Station.  “People take taxis to get to the destination safely and quickly.  We are asking for traffic rights for when the taxi is occupied with a passenger so we can serve our customers better and not take an economic beating ourselves,” said William Lindauer.  NYTWA also asked for all “taxi stands” which are not near transportation hubs to be converted to relief stands, stop the towing of parked taxis at various gas stations and prevent ticketing of drivers for pick-ups or drop-offs at bus lanes.  Click here to download NYTWA traffic demands.

Demand Money for Health Care, not Useless Technology! NYTWA slams ads blitzes, the use of GPS surveillance for tracking and enforcement, and the unjust 5% credit card heist in our response to the TLC’s Request for Information regarding changes to the current technology as well as new technologies.  The TLC is reviewing the technology in taxis as its contracts with the GPS vendors come to an end in August 2010.  Drivers’ interests are up against the financial interests and political capital of over 150 others, mostly technology companies looking for an exclusive market for their nonsense products.  TLC is currently reviewing the responses.  Get ready for GPS Fight Part 2.  Click here to download NYTWA’s response.  

Stop the 5% Credit Card Heist!

Click here for campaign background.