NY Taxi struggle - background 5/14/98

Bill Koehnlein toplab at mindspring.com
Fri May 15 15:25:49 PDT 1998


At last...a union that has made Giuliani squirm. The success of the strike on Wednesday can be demonstrated in numbers: according to both police and taxi industry figures, of the more than 12,000 yellow cabs in the city fewer than 200 hit the streets during the stoppage. The Taxi Workers Alliance is working out of the Brecht Forum office and over the last several days I've seen the energy and commitment of the organizers firsthand. Kudos to them on a job well done!

Following in this and a second post are several articles from the New York media about the strike, the taxi industry, and the the lives of taxi drivers.

--BK


>Return-Path: <nhan at merv.cs.nyu.edu>
>Date: Fri, 15 May 98 12:01:01 EDT
>From: nhan at merv.cs.nyu.edu (Ngo Thanh Nhan)
>To: TopLab at mindspring.com
>Subject: <6> NY Taxi struggle - background 5/14/98
>
>NYU Linguistic String Project -- Fri May 15 11:54:29 EDT 1998
>
>Dear friends,
>
>Here is the latest on taxi strike... as of 5/14/98
>See the press below...
>
>FYI,
>Nhan
>-------------------------------------------------
>>From owner-foil-l at mail.serve.com Thu May 14 10:56 EDT 1998
>From: "Sekhar Ramakrishnan" <ramakri at cudept.cis.columbia.edu>
>Subject: nyc taxi strike huge
>
>Hi:
>
>The one-day taxi strike, initiated by the Taxi Workers Alliance, was a
>huge success. By all reports, there were hardly any taxis on the street.
>The Times, which is usually eager to emphasize scabs, failures, innocent
>victims, etc., did better today, stressing the strike's success
>(photographs of yellow-less streets, reports on front pages of main AND
>metro sections) and even mentioning the issues as the strike organizers
>and drivers have framed them. There was even a background article that
>featured TWA (the first story below). The stories make clear what a great
>organizing job TWA did and how well it knew the feelings of the drivers,
>despite having had to recreate itself only a few months back.
>
>One last note. Giuliani is one of the most vindictive politicians around.
>He holds grudges for years. This strike is one of the few successful
>expressions of opposition to his autocratic rule in the city. I am sure he
>will try to go after the taxi drivers, especially TWA.
>
>sekhar
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 00:02:38 -0500
>From: debs at dclink.com
>To: plefr at umich.edu
>Subject: New York taxi strike hugely successful
>
>================[ Distributed Message ]================
> ListServer: Debs (E-discussion of Labor Party Debs Caucus)
> Type: Not Moderated
> Distributed on: 14-MAY-98, 00:01:50
>Original Written by: INT:andypollack at juno.com.
>=======================================================
>
>An initial report on today's strike:
>
>Some 24,000 yellow cab drivers in New York City -- that is, virtually the
>entire taxi worforce -- struck today. Only a tiny number of taxis were on
>the streets, probably less than 1%. The night before local news found it
>extremely hard if not impossible to find any driver who would say he
>wouldn't be striking, and by the next morning the media couldn't find a
>scab to talk to. Throughout the day reports back to strike HQ from teams
>visiting major taxi gathering points and high-traffic thoroughfares
>reported barely a cab in sight.
>
>The action was organized by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. The NYTWA
>was formerly called the Lease Drivers Coalition, and had been organizing
>for several years primarily among South Asian drivers, who make up the
>majority of the workforce, which, however, also includes substantial
>numbers of Latinos, Caribbeans, Africans and Eastern Europeans. Today's
>strike had the support of drivers of all ethnicities. Throughout the day
>white, Latin and Black strikers would come to the headquarter with the
>same message: "I've been driving for 20 years and nobody ever organized
>anything like this! You guys are the best!"
>
>The strike was organized in barely a week in response to Mayor Giuliani's
>imposition of 17 onerous rules that would make an already dangerous and
>nerve-wracking job unbearable and would cost the drivers thousands more
>in fines for no good reason.
>
>Every single local media, and some national and international, was there.
>Giuliani's response was his typical combination of childish denials of
>the strike's impact and dictatorial threats to take away their licenses
>(and, a rumor claims, to call in the INS). The threats revolve around
>next Thursday's tentative plan for a caravan to City Hall.
>
>The strike was organized by days of constant leaflets of cabbies at all
>the major centers (airports, Port Authority terminals, etc.) -- during a
>week of constant rain (which only let up today). Over the weekend
>leafletting teams all reported back to the office with the same results:
>"drivers are asking us for more flyers, they're ready for the strike, and
>they want to know why we can't strike for more than one day!"
>
>Next Thursday's action (May 21) is still being planned, but there will
>clearly be either on that day or close to it an activity to involve large
>numbers of supporters. We can certainly hope that the unity with which
>drivers stood up to Giuliani will be an inspiration to those who've been
>afraid to -- or have been prevented from doing so by their "leaders." The
>mayor's attacks on welfare recipients, city workers, housing and garden
>activists, etc., etc., have met with either no resistance or scattered
>ineffective protests (in the latter category I include AFSCME Local 420's
>protests against hospital layoffs: the "victory" of two weeks ago still
>means layoffs for most -- and for many of the rest placement in jobs in
>other agencies from which other Locals' members were earlier removed).
>
>More details on future actions as soon as I have it (and call NYTWA at
>212 627-5248).
>
>One final note: as is almost always the case in such large and successful
>actions, the mood among strikers was heartwarming and inspiring. Despite
>being angry at Giuliani and the Taxi and Limousine Commission, it was
>hard to find anyone all day without a smile. And organizers treated each
>other and newcomers like old friends, with warmth and consideration.
>
>Andy Pollack
>

Louis Proyect

(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)



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