We salute NYC taxi drivers

To the general public, taxi users and organized labor:

Workers World Party and newspaper hail the heroic effort made by tens of thousands of New York City taxicab drivers who went on strike Sept. 5 to keep from being forced by the Taxi and Limousine Commission to accept global positioning systems and touch-screen monitors for credit card payments in the cabs they drive.

The New York City Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents more than 10,000 of the city’s 44,000 licensed drivers, says the GPS amounts to spy-ware, since the TLC can use it to track every trip the cabbies make.

Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the NYCTWA, says her members describe GPS as robbing cabbies of their privacy. One driver compared it to the ankle bracelets used in house arrest. They also oppose the credit-card system because, they say, paying fees for card processing would deprive them of hard-earned cash. She characterized the strike as “a resounding success” and said the majority of drivers stayed home.

The drivers work for franchise owners who own medallions--a metal plate issued by the city that shows the taxi is licensed. These medallions are selling for as high as $600,000 apiece.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission, billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, franchise owners, and the Wall Street banks and brokers that profit from financing the purchase of taxi medallions are all determined to have the new system installed beginning Oct. 1.

The cost of the GPS will be added to the exorbitant fees franchise owners charge the drivers, who must also pay for gas and maintenance. It all adds up to hundreds of dollars out of their pockets each day before they even pick up their first fare. The drivers work long hours in health-threatening conditions for poverty-level wages and no benefits.

The NYCTWA has been fighting the law that defines the drivers as independent contractors. They are workers, like those in transportation and every other service industry, and deserve the right of collective bargaining to negotiate decent contracts with health care, pensions and other benefits.

The NYCTWA voted for a two-day strike, but the struggle is part of an ongoing campaign that the labor movement, community organizations and other groups must continue to support. The majority of the drivers are immigrants from many different lands. When they win economic and social justice, all workers, organized and unorganized, will win. An injury to one is an injury to all.