NYC Taxi strike against GPS monitoring
Sep 5 2007 15:29
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/05/nyc.taxistrike.ap/index.html
Quote:
NEW YORK (AP) -- A group of taxi drivers launched a two-day strike Wednesday, right in the middle of the New York Fashion Week and the U.S. Open tennis tournament, to protest a city plan to require GPS tracking in cabs.
art.cab.gi.jpgA New York cab driver works on Wednesday, despite the strike protesting new technology rules
As the morning rush hour got under way, the lines of commuters waiting for taxis outside Pennsylvania Station were longer than usual, but there were still cabs on the streets.
Financial analyst Matt Achilarre said he had waited almost 20 minutes for a taxi there and had no sympathy for the striking drivers.
"It's pointless -- they're not making any statements," said Achilarre, 26, who commutes by train from New Jersey. "I applaud the cabbies that are working. They'll get a windfall."
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance called the strike in the nation's largest city to protest new rules requiring all cabs to have global positioning systems and touch-screen monitors that will let passengers pay by credit card. Some cabbies fear the GPS systems could be used to track their movements and that they could get stuck paying hefty fees for credit card processing.
"The overwhelming majority of drivers are against this system, and there are serious setbacks this system is causing drivers," the alliance's executive director, Bhairavi Desai, said Wednesday.
Desai said the drivers' group hoped the strike would persuade city officials to back off the requirement.
It wasn't immediately clear how many of the city's 13,000 taxis would be idled. The alliance claims to represent about one-fifth of the Taxi & Limousine Commission's 44,000 licensed drivers, but its leaders predicted a larger number would join in. However, several other groups that represent thousands of city cab drivers released statements opposing the strike.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg downplayed the likelihood of widespread disruption, but the city still allowed taxis to pick up multiple separate passengers, and the transit system added buses on some airport routes. Normally, taxi drivers are allowed to pick up only one passenger or group of passengers at a time.
The mayor's office had no immediate comment on the situation Wednesday morning. A taxi commission spokesman did not immediately return a message left on his cell phone.
The New York Police Department assigned extra police officers to taxi garages and transportation hubs, and plainclothes officers were to ride in some taxis to guard against reprisals against cabbies who chose not to strike, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
The city's cabs must have the high-tech equipment when they come up for inspection, starting October 1. Taxi officials say eliminating the need for cash could increase ridership and drivers' incomes, and that the GPS technology will be used to give drivers traffic tips and help passengers find lost items.
Sep 6 2007 13:13
#2
NY TIMES Sept. 6, 2007
September 6, 2007
Cabs Are on Strike, but Are on the Street, Too
By JAMES BARRON
A strike called by a New York City taxi drivers’ group over city plans for a high-tech video-and-fare system thinned the ranks of yellow cabs on the streets yesterday, producing frustrating waits on corners, long lines at the airports and angry exchanges over an ad-hoc fare system.
Union leaders and city officials differed over the effectiveness of the walkout. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which called the strike, maintained that 90 percent of drivers were idle yesterday. But Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said the figure was far lower.
Still, many would-be passengers spent more time with hands in the air, stuck in that eternal pose of big-city hopelessness. And at the airports, a five-minute wait for a cab stretched to half an hour at some terminals, with 25 people waiting in line, looking at their watches, wondering why they were suddenly going nowhere when the plane had been on time.
The city had introduced a zone-based fare structure during the planned two-day strike — the ride into Manhattan from Kennedy International Airport would be set at $45, for example — but according to anecdotes, at least, the plan seemed to sow more confusion than convenience. It permitted group rides, but some drivers were unaware of it and were uncertain how much to charge. That led to more than one instance of audible angry dialogue between passengers and drivers.
“I’ll pay the guy whatever he wants,” Stanley Kolodziejczak, a tax lawyer from Moorestown, N.J., said outside Pennsylvania Station in the morning as he studied a sheet with the rates and zones in effect for the strike.
So it was not a day for that classic New York scene, an avenue of yellow that squirmed and twisted and jerked to a stop and then jolted forward again. For once, long stretches of bare pavement were visible. There were fewer cabs, though it was difficult to say just how many of the city’s 13,000 cabs were out of service.
Other commuters balked at fares they said had doubled overnight. “We usually pay 5 bucks to get to work, and he’s telling us it’s $10, so we’ll just take the bus,” Johanna Richardson said as she was leaving Penn Station. . Her colleague, Jane Allison, added, “It’s ridiculous, a flat fee of 10 bucks just to go a couple of blocks.”
Some paid anyway. “I’m late already,” said Sandhya Rao, a fellow at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital who had taken a 5:40 a.m. train from Metuchen, N.J. “I’ll usually pay $12 for this. Now I’ll pay $20.”
And some passengers complained about having to ride along while the cab dropped off other passengers.
“I’m very inconvenienced,” said Nicole Grefe, a jeweler in Manhattan. “I can’t get a cab, and they’re ruder than normal. I went from 67th and Ninth to 41st and Eighth with no traffic. It should be 5-something, but he charged $15.”
Biju Mathew of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance said the group’s 90 percent figure came from a count of taxis heading into Manhattan from Queens and Brooklyn, where many taxi garages are located, between 4:30 and 7:30 a.m.
But Mayor Bloomberg, declaring that the strike had “a limited impact if at all,” said that 75 percent of fleet cabs were in service yesterday, as opposed to 93 percent last Wednesday. Aides said the mayor’s number came from the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which canvassed fleet operators around 11 a.m.
The mayor said that a second count of taxis, from a computerized system run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, showed that taxi service was down only 14 percent at Kennedy Airport, compared with the same day last year.
The Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, a taxi industry group, said that 72 percent of its 3,200 cabs were on the road in the morning. The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, which had campaigned against the strike, said that 80 percent of drivers were working.
But the picture from small- and medium-size fleet operators was less clear. “I didn’t expect it to be big, and I don’t think it is,” Steven M. Statharos, the owner of City Transport Management in Woodside, Queens, said, referring to the strike. But, after noting that only 40 of his 76 cabs were on the road, he added, “We don’t want to have this many cars sitting, of course.”
Some drivers who were behind the wheel yesterday said they made more money than usual. Ivan Nova, picking up passengers at Kennedy in midmorning, figured that he was earning $60 an hour yesterday, double what he normally makes.
Bhairavi Desai, the executive director of the taxi workers’ alliance, called the job action a “resounding success,” as did Edward F. Ott, the executive director of the New York City Central Labor Council, an A.F.L.-C.I.O. umbrella group for the city’s unions.
“If you can’t tell the difference between yesterday at Penn Station and today, you’re blind or you’re a tourist,” he said, with Ms. Desai at a news conference.
The taxi workers’ alliance says the new equipment will mean additional costs for drivers — 5 percent in fees on credit-card transactions. City Councilman David I. Weprin, the chairman of the Council’s Finance Committee, said at the taxi alliance’s news conference that credit card companies charge less than that, and that taxi owners were pocketing about 3.5 percent.
The system will put a video screen in the back of taxis where passengers can a see a map of their route or watch television programs. It will also include a text-messaging device in front, where drivers can receive messages from the taxi commission.
Hossain Khan, a driver who took part in the strike, complained about the mapping aspect of the equipment, the part many drivers call simply G.P.S. It would let the taxi commission monitor where taxis went during the day — information the commission says it could use to direct taxis to places where they are needed. But Mr. Khan worried that the city would instead use that information to send speeding tickets to drivers who drove to the airport in less time than the trip should take.
The strike began at 5 a.m., when most day-shift drivers start work. . Within a couple of hours, regular commuters said the wait for a cab was longer than usual. “There is nobody on the road,” said Fritz Berger, a driver who said he supported the Taxi Workers Alliance but could not afford to strike.
City officials had said a main concern was the airports, the gateway for tourists. And there, many people waiting for taxis echoed Tsui-oh Mei, 70, a retired housekeeper from West Palm Beach, Fla., trying for a cab at Terminal D in La Guardia Airport. “I’m just very confused,” she said.
She was not the only one. She had just been ejected from a cab by the driver, Wally Sarwari, 36, who was set to take her and another passenger to different Queens destinations — Ms. Mei to Flushing and the other passenger to Astoria. When Mr. Sarwari realized that under the group-fare plan, he would earn only $20 for the trip, he said, “I can’t take it, I’m losing money.”
Mr. Nova, the driver who estimated that his earnings doubled yesterday, said ride-sharing seemed to go over well with passengers. A man and woman who met in the back seat of his cab exchanged phone numbers, he said.
“It’s like taxi matchmaker,” he said.
Kate Hammer, Winter Miller and William Neuman contributed reporting.
Sep 6 2007 13:20
#3
Quote:
I can’t get a cab, and they’re ruder than normal
that's scabs for you
Sep 6 2007 17:17
#4
the Taxi Workers' Alliance website:
http://www.nytwa.org/stopgps.html
more info:
http://socialjustice.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/index.php/Taxi_Workers_Alliance
Sep 7 2007 17:09
#5
Sep 7 2007 20:14
#6
How effective has the strike been? I assume some of y'all have been in the city the past couple of days.
I can't imagine downtown Manhatten without fleets of taxis.
Sep 7 2007 21:31
#7
i live uptown and i think there's been a bit of a dropoff. whatever the number of strikers, they've gotten a pretty good deal of attention for their complaint, which has been solely about the GPS, and not about requiring them to take credit cards, tho' the rightwing press has tried to push that angle, using the usual trick of "sticking up for the consumer"
Sep 8 2007 13:27
#8
As a sorta side note, the south asian and asian (english lang) internet press converage of the stike has been pretty extensive. This is due to the majority Indian,Pakistani,Bengali workforce.
This is from YahooIndia and gives a good feel for the south asian coverage: http://in.news.yahoo.com/070905/43/6kd5b.html
The article notes that "A rival cabbies coalition, the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, has mounted a counterstrike operation. It sent dozens of volunteers to taxi stands at the city's airports and the main rail terminal asking drivers not to join the stoppage." This group is composed mainly of owner-operators and/or folks who work for private car services. The group President, Fernando Mateo, is a heavy contrbutor to the Republication party. It comes as no surpirse that he would offer scabs. The problem is it creates racial divisions as many livery drivers tend to be Hispanic and the yellow cabbies south asian.
This 1999 article (sorta as background) is also of interest: "'You are more energized when there is hostility. You fight harder, too' "
Sep 10 2007 13:35
#9
The Indypendent: An Interview with NY Taxi Workers Alliance Leader Bhairavi
Desai
Says 20,000 Cabbies Joined 2-Day Strike; May Do It Again If City Doesn't
Change New Work Rules
By John Tarleton
September 07, 2007 04:53PM EDT _[general.addtranslation]_
(https://publish.nyc.indymedia.org/nyc/servlet/OpenMir?do=opensession&sessiontype=translation&to_c
ontent=90550) _Download Article (PDF)_
(https://publish.nyc.indymedia.org/nyc/servlet/OpenMir?do=getpdf&id=90550&forIE=.pdf) [ insert language bar ]
New York taxi drivers have been speaking out for months against new city
regulations that require all taxis to have new technology installed including
credit card machines and global positioning systems that will track where the
cabbies drive. Faced with an October 1 deadline to make the switchover,
thousands of cabbies pulled their vehicles off the streets Wednesday and Thursday
in the first citywide taxi strike in nine years. With the strike winding down
on Thursday night, New York Taxi Workers Alliance Executive Director Bhairavi
Desai spoke with The Indypendent about what was accomplished, how her group
pulled off the strike and what they might be ready to do next. ||_Previous
coverage in The Indypendent_
(http://www.indypendent.org/2007/04/29/backseat-battle-citys-plan-to-require-costl
y-computer-screens-in-yellow-taxis-may-lead-to-strike)
Keywords: _News_ (http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/news/archive.html) , _Local_
(http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/local/archive.html) , _Economy_
(http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/economy/archive.html) , _Labor_
(http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/labor/archive.html) ,
Bhairavi Desai
New York taxi drivers have been speaking out for months against new city
regulations that require all taxis to have new technology installed including
credit card machines and global positioning systems that will track where the
cabbies drive. Faced with an October 1 deadline to make the switchover,
thousands of cabbies pulled their vehicles off the streets Wednesday and Thursday
in the first citywide taxi strike in nine years. With the strike winding down
on Thursday night, New York Taxi Workers Alliance Executive Director Bhairavi
Desai spoke with The Indypendent about what was accomplished, how her group
pulled off the strike and what they might be ready to do next.
JT: What’s your assessment of how the strike has gone?
BD: We feel it’s been phenomenally successful. There’s 13, 187 taxis in New
York and between the day and the night shift about 26,000 drivers.
Definitely, there are 20,000 drivers that were on strike in these two days … I was
just talking to a driver. At his garage, they have 167 cabs. Only three of them
were dispatched. There’s a mechanic shop that services cabs as their whole
business. They take in $4,000 per day. Yesterday, they took in $400. From 4:30
in the morning, we were at different locations counting the cars. There’s a
visible difference.
JT: What do you say to the numbers from Mayor Bloomberg?
BD: That’s nonsense! There’s no way that you could have 75 percent of the
cabs on the street with the streets looking as empty as they are. The media
keeps showing parts of Midtown because that’s where the cabbies who crossed the
picket line were going. Even at the airports, you would not have more than
30 cabs at one time. That’s significant. In different parts of Manhattan, you
don’t see the number of yellow cabs you would on any other normal day. There
are many streets in Manhattan on any given moment where you look out and all
you see is a canvass of yellow. In these two days, what you see are only
specks of it.
JT: How do you feel about the way the press has covered the story?
BD: Oh God. Corporate media… They clearly wanted to keep the position
established by the city which was to downplay the strike. Yet, at the same time all
the details of the articles were clearly evidence of how the strike had an
impact.
JT: Sum up the objections the drivers have to the new GPS system.
BD: The technology as a whole raises a lot of different problems. There’s
economic concerns over the fact that the drivers are having to pay for this at
a rate of $15-45 per week plus there’s a surcharge of 5 percent on credit
card fares. Because the GPS tracking is on the meter, it’s delaying activation
of the meter. For example a fare jumps out and the next fare jumps in and the
driver wants to activate the meter. The meter becomes much, much slower.
Sometimes they will have to drive two to three blocks without the meter on but
the fare is in the backseat. That’s money directly out of the driver’s pocket.
Drivers have little money to spare to begin with. Expenses are $130-160 for a
12-hour shift and they need to earn that before they break even.
JT: What impact do you think the strike will have on the City and the Taxi
and Limousine Commission?
BD: We know that there were businesses that were impacted. This [the GPS
system] has gone from an issue that was an industry issue to becoming an issue
that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and people around the world are
aware of compared to the day before the strike.
JT: With the Oct. 1 deadline coming up for the switchover to the GPS
systems, do you expect the TLC to revisit its decision?
BD: We do. It’s not only the TLC but the Mayor’s office we are looking at.
We’re going to do everything we can to continue this discussion. I can’t
imagine a responsible city government ignoring the fact that tens of thousands
of workers went out on strike over an issue. The day before the strike he
(Bloomberg) he kept saying only a handful of drivers will strike. The industry
said nobody will strike. We said from the beginning the overwhelming majority
of drivers will strike. Ours is the only credibility that has stayed intact
and we plan to build upon that. Fact is, drivers are in high spirits. They aren’
t following the spin by City Hall. They know how many cars are usually at
different locations throughout the city.
JT: Is TWA considering calling another strike if the City and the TLC don’t
change their position?
BD: Yes, that’s absolutely open.
JT: Would it possibly be longer than two days?
BD: Yes.
JT: Describe how TWA was able to overcome some of the obstacles of
organizing taxi drivers given their isolation and the feeling they need to keep on
driving to make ends meet.
BD: We’ve been hitting the streets. We’ve handed out over 35,000 fliers in
the past two weeks. The he membership we’ve built in the past nine years is a
solid base. There’s no better publicity than a fellow driver rolling down his
window at a red light saying, “Listen brother, I’m going to strike. We need
to stand up in solidarity.†That’s what was happening. Strikes are only
successful when workers become organizers.
JT: And that’s what happened with TWA?
BD: Yes, absolutely. Our membership went into action. Before the strike, we
had about 100 members actively mobilizing. But now we have 20,000 strikers
who see in action their ability and power. Believe me, they are going to be
motivated to keep that unity in tact. Drivers know how invaluable solidarity is.
When you work in isolation, you learn that even better.
Sep 12 2007 05:05
#11
Philly cabbies struck over the same issue
http://phillyimc.org/en/2007/09/42095.shtml
Sep 12 2007 06:09
#12
Damn, I hope my boss doesn't put a GPS device on the truck i use for work. I wasted at least a couple of hours today going to the beach. 
Sep 12 2007 09:23
#13
David in Atlanta wrote:
Philly cabbies struck over the same issue
http://phillyimc.org/en/2007/09/42095.shtml
Atlanta cabbies wildcat as well:
http://libcom.org/news/atlanta-cabbies-wildcat-strike-12092007
Sep 12 2007 10:41
#14
Uncontrollable wrote:
Damn, I hope my boss doesn't put a GPS device on the truck i use for work. I wasted at least a couple of hours today going to the beach.
We've got GPS in our buses, management don't seem to use it to spy on us much but they could if they weren't retards.
Sep 12 2007 10:43
#15
yeah it's like all internet traffic is monitored at my work, but whenever i go to see the IT guys they're slacking on the net, not monitoring anyone else slacking on the net 
still better to stop them installing GPS in the first place though, on the off-chance the management aren't retards
Sep 12 2007 14:18
#16
Our state has been using GPS on its own fleet, and pushing it on contractors, for several years amid periodic controversy... e.g.:
http://www.greaterboston.tv/features/gb_120403_plows.html
I think this is really interesting because (unless I'm forgetting something) anti-GPS strikes are some of the first struggles over the rationalization of both time and location in the context of the emerging global logistics-centered economy.
Sep 12 2007 19:29
#17
John. wrote:
David in Atlanta wrote:
Philly cabbies struck over the same issue
http://phillyimc.org/en/2007/09/42095.shtmlAtlanta cabbies wildcat as well:
http://libcom.org/news/atlanta-cabbies-wildcat-strike-12092007
I heard about that after the fact or i would have gone down to show support.
Sep 13 2007 02:55
#18
The GPS in our buses is part of the $5 million radio system that was installed in 2004 - over $10000/bus and it still doesn't work properly - there was a little bit of grumbling at the time but nothing major. A key problem for management in using it to spy on us is that we are meant to log on to the radio with an electronic tag so they know who's in what bus but hardly anyone does. A few months ago there were apparently several speed camera fines that couldn't be attributed to any particular driver so management had to pay the fine at the unattributed corporate rate which AFAIK is 5 times the standard rate. They put up notices around the depot demanding we log on because it would help us in case we hit the emergency button. Now if they'd made it so you couldn't start the bus til you'd logged in...
Joseph, when I was in Brighton a few years ago I applied for a job on the local buses and in their depot they had a huge screen showing a map of Brighton with dots for all the buses which changed colour if they were late or early or off course. That's the difference between govt and private ownership I guess.
Speaking of net slacking, my cousin was a sys admin for a big chain of travel agents. Some of his workmates used to spend much of the day downloading porno movies, when the predictable complaints came from the office staff these guys would say, 'we don't know what you're talking about, the net's running fine here'.
Sep 20 2007 15:59
#19
See news articles below.
Support Taxi Workers Strike September 5&6 - Volunteer & spread the word
New York City's taxi workers will be going on strike Wednesday and
Thursday to stop GPS spyware and protect their dignity, civil
liberties and right to maintain their income. Lead by their union,
the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (a member of the NYC Central Labor
Council) with over 10,000 members, a victory for these workers will
be a victory for all workers and passengers in NYC!
Volunteers are needed to leaflet and do other tasks. Please
distribute the e-leaflet below and call 212-627-5248 to help! Thank you.
STOP GPS SPYWARE IN TAXIS!
SUPPORT DRIVERS' AND PASSENGERS RIGHTS!
The Taxi & Limousine Commission wants to force cab drivers to install
GPS technology in all taxis. GPS is a bad deal for riders and for drivers:
~ GPS WILL NOT give drivers navigation software or online maps
~ GPS lets private companies track drivers' AND passengers' every move
~ GPS violates all our civil liberties and right to privacy
~ GPS will subject you to annoying broadcast ads during your ride
~ GPS will cause the meter to shut down if the technology fails
~ GPS failure will force you to interrupt your ride and hail another cab
~ Drivers will lose days of income while waiting for GPS repairs
~ Drivers' income will be hurt by higher lease rates because of GPS
JOIN DRIVERS AND PASSENGER FIGHTING FOR FAIRNESS!
PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY & DRIVERS'
You can help by:
Calling the Taxi Workers Alliance - 212-627-5248 and volunteering to help!
from the NEW YORK TIMES:
New York Taxi Strike Causes Slightly Longer Waits
By _JOHN SULLIVAN_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/john_sullivan/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: September 6, 2007
The number of available taxis was visibly smaller in New York City today as a
group of cabdrivers began a two-day strike, although it was hard to say how
many of the city’s 13,000 yellow cabs remained off the road.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/nyregion/05cnd-taxi.html?ref=nyregion#secondParagraph)
(javascript
op_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/09/05/us/05cnd-taxi2.ready.html', '05cnd_taxi2_ready',
'width=720,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes'))
Uli Seit for The New York Times
A taxi queue at La Guardia Airport, normally bustling, was nearly empty as a
group of New York City cabdrivers began a two-day strike.
The strike organizers, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, proclaimed the
action a success at a 10:15 a.m. news conference, saying that 80 percent of
cabdrivers had stayed away from work.
But Mayor _Michael R. Bloomberg_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/michael_r_bloomberg/index.html?inline=nyt-per) said at a
news conference just before 2 p.m. that counts taken by the city showed the
vast majority of cabdrivers continued to work despite the strike.
“Over all I think it is fair to say today’s strike is having a limited
impact, if at all,†the mayor said.
Because small companies or individual owners operate many of the city’s cabs,
an exact count of taxis on the street is difficult, the mayor said. But he
said large fleet owners, which represent 30 to 40 percent of the taxis,
reported that 75 percent of their cars were on the street today, compared with 93
percent last Wednesday. The _Port Authority of New York and New Jersey_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/p/port_authority_
of_new_york_and_new_jersey/index.html?inline=nyt-org) , which operates
Kennedy International Airport, reported that the number of taxis was 14 percent
below normal at Kennedy, he said.
“The city has not come to a stop and people are getting where they need to
go,†the mayor said.
Still, passengers at Pennsylvania Station and at Kennedy and La Guardia
Airports reported longer waits than usual for cabs after the 5 a.m. strike began.
Early this morning at Kennedy Airport, about 50 passengers outside Terminal 9
were told they might wait as long as a half-hour for a cab. “It’s not
usually this long,†said Joshua Olken, 29, a consultant from Boston traveling to
an 8 a.m. meeting in Manhattan. “I should have taken the train.â€
At La Guardia Airport around 11 a.m., passengers reported waiting about 20
minutes for a cab outside Terminal D. Dispatchers and drivers said there were
fewer cabs operating, although there seemed to be no major disruptions.
“There is nobody on the road,†said Fritz Berger, a cabdriver who said he
supported the Taxi Workers Alliance’s position but could not afford to strike.
“I had to work, I could not take it financially.â€
At the news conference, the mayor said the city’s contingency plan for the
strike has been working well. The plan includes a zone-based fare structure,
with four zones for Manhattan and one for each of the other four boroughs.
Drivers, who are allowed to pick up multiple passengers, will be allowed to
charge each passenger $10 for a trip in a single zone and $5 more for each zone
they travel through. The fare between Kennedy Airport and Manhattan would be
$30 per person and the same trip from La Guardia Airport would be $20 per
person.
Although city officials said the plan allowed drivers to make more money by
picking up multiple passengers, the arrangement was not always popular with
drivers who were not getting Manhattan-bound passengers.
“I can’t take it, I am losing money,†one driver, Wally Sarwari, said this
morning as he shooed two passengers from his cab at La Guardia. The passengers
both wanted to go to Queens, meaning Mr. Sarwari would drive across the
borough for a $20 fare.
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance primarily represents drivers who lease
their vehicles from a garage or broker. Many of the drivers are upset over a
city requirement that cabs install new technology, including credit-card readers
and G.P.S.-equipped passenger information and navigational screens, by next
year. While the alliance says the equipment will cost drivers’ money and
subject them to invasive scrutiny from the G.P.S. tracking system, the mayor said
the new technology would be a service to passengers and allow drivers to
earn more money.
The alliance’s organizer, Bhairavi Desai, said the action was a “resounding
success,†adding that a vast majority of drivers stayed away from work.
“Look at the roads,†she told reporters.
Ed Ott, the executive director of the New York City Central Labor Council, an
_A.F.L.-C.I.O._
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/american_federation_of_laborcongress_of_industrial_organizations/index
.html?inline=nyt-org) umbrella group for the city’s unions, joined her at a
news conference and said the strike was effective.
“If you can’t tell the difference between yesterday at Penn Station,†he
said, “and today, you’re blind or you’re a tourist.â€
James Barron, Sewell Chan and Kate Hammer contributed reporting.
Some N.Y. Taxi Drivers on Strike
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 5, 2007
Filed at 9:56 a.m. ET (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/)
NEW YORK (AP) -- A group of taxi drivers launched a two-day strike Wednesday,
right in the middle of the New York Fashion Week and the U.S. Open tennis
tournament, to protest a city plan to require GPS tracking in cabs.
As the morning rush hour got under way, the lines of commuters waiting for
taxis outside Pennsylvania Station were longer than usual, but there were still
cabs on the streets.
Financial analyst Matt Achilarre said he had waited almost 20 minutes for a
taxi there and had no sympathy for the striking drivers.
''It's pointless -- they're not making any statements,'' said Achilarre, 26,
who commutes by train from New Jersey. ''I applaud the cabbies that are
working. They'll get a windfall.''
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance called the strike in the nation's largest
city to protest new rules requiring all cabs to have global positioning
systems and touch-screen monitors that will let passengers pay by credit card.
Some cabbies fear the GPS systems could be used to track their movements and
that they could get stuck paying hefty fees for credit card processing.
''The overwhelming majority of drivers are against this system, and there are
serious setbacks this system is causing drivers,'' the alliance's executive
director, Bhairavi Desai, said Wednesday.
Desai said the drivers' group hoped the strike would persuade city officials
to back off the requirement.
It wasn't immediately clear how many of the city's 13,000 taxis would be
idled. The alliance claims to represent about one-fifth of the Taxi & Limousine
Commission's 44,000 licensed drivers, but its leaders predicted a larger
number would join in. However, several other groups that represent thousands of
city cab drivers released statements opposing the strike.
Mayor _Michael Bloomberg_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/michael_r_bloomberg/index.html?inline=nyt-per) downplayed the
likelihood of widespread disruption, but the city still allowed taxis to pick up
multiple separate passengers, and the transit system added buses on some
airport routes. Normally, taxi drivers are allowed to pick up only one passenger
or group of passengers at a time.
The mayor's office had no immediate comment on the situation Wednesday
morning. A taxi commission spokesman did not immediately return a message left on
his cell phone.
The New York Police Department assigned extra police officers to taxi garages
and transportation hubs, and plainclothes officers were to ride in some
taxis to guard against reprisals against cabbies who chose not to strike, police
Commissioner _Raymond Kelly_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/raymond_w_kelly/index.html?inline=nyt-per) said.
The city's cabs must have the high-tech equipment when they come up for
inspection, starting Oct. 1. Taxi officials say eliminating the need for cash
could increase ridership and drivers' incomes, and that the GPS technology will
be used to give drivers traffic tips and help passengers find lost items.
------
Associated Press writers Sara Kugler and Jennifer Peltz contributed to this
report.
Flat Fares Are Planned to Cope With Cabby Strike
By _JAMES BARRON_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/james_barron/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: September 5, 2007
With a cabdrivers’ group saying it would go ahead with a two-day strike today
and tomorrow, city officials announced plans for group rides and flat fares
throughout the city, but not across the Hudson River.
Officials said a zone-based fare structure would go into effect, with four
zones for Manhattan and one each for the other boroughs. Nonstriking drivers
will be allowed to charge each passenger a fare of $10 for a trip in a single
zone and $5 more for each zone they enter or drive through.
The fare between Manhattan and Kennedy International Airport would be $30 a
person and for La Guardia Airport $20 a person. The regular rate to or from
Kennedy is $45 a trip, not per passenger. Fares to La Guardia are normally
calculated on the meter.
The fare to Newark Liberty International Airport would be the amount on the
meter, plus $15. The group that organized the work stoppage, the New York Taxi
Workers Alliance, is protesting rules requiring cabs to install a global
positioning system and touch-screen monitors to allow payment with a credit
card.
The executive director of the group, Bhairavi Desai, appeared at a news
conference outside Pennsylvania Station yesterday. She repeated her objections to
the new equipment, saying service charges on credit-care fares would eat into
drivers’ pay.
She also said that the touch-screen monitors, which would be built into a
partition in the middle of a cab, give off heat that could make drivers
uncomfortable.
“This is modern technology that would set the working conditions back to the
dark ages†for drivers, she said.
Another element of the system would permit the city agency that regulates
taxis, the _Taxi and Limousine Commission_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/t/taxi_and_limousine_commission/index.html?inlin
e=nyt-org) , to send text messages to drivers. She called that “absurd.â€
“We know the T.L.C. has never driven a taxi,†she said, “but it’s apparent
they’ve never ridden in one, either.â€
The alliance says it represents more than 7,000 cabdrivers. But it was not
clear how many drivers would stay off the job, and Mayor _Michael R.
Bloomberg_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/michael_r_bloomberg/index.html?inline=nyt-per) predicted that the number of drivers who
would actually go on strike would be “so trivial you might not even notice it.â€
At least one other taxi group, the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers,
has been campaigning against the strike.
City officials warned striking drivers not to harass those who decide to
work. “We will not tolerate drivers who want to disrupt this city intimidating
or threatening their fellow drivers who are interested in making a living and
providing a service to New Yorkers,†the mayor said in a statement.
He and the police commissioner, _Raymond W. Kelly_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/raymond_w_kelly/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
, said additional officers would be assigned to Grand Central Terminal,
Penn Station and taxi garages. Mr. Kelly said some of the officers would be in
plain clothes and would be in taxis on patrol.
“We are taking these steps to ensure the public safety and to guard against
reprisals against cabbies who elect to drive,†Mr. Kelly said.
When Ms. Desai was told of Mr. Kelly’s statement, her response was, “Did he
do that, or Fernando Mateo?â€
Mr. Mateo, a spokesman for the federation of taxi drivers, met with Mr. Kelly
yesterday and urged him to provide protection for drivers who work today and
tomorrow. Mr. Mateo predicted that 60 to 70 percent of the city’s taxi
drivers would be behind the wheel despite the strike.
Mr. Mateo also took issue with Ms. Desai’s assertion that the G.P.S. system
would be costly for drivers. He said the 1,000 drivers who already have G.P.S.
systems are making 20 percent more than those who did not.
John Gallagher, a spokesman for the mayor, said that members of the alliance
met with City Hall staff members and representatives of the taxi commission
yesterday. “However,†Mr. Gallagher said in an e-mail message, “as the mayor
indicated last week, there isn’t really anything to negotiate.â€
Some fashion designers worried that a strike would keep designers and fashion
writers from making the trip to their shows.
“It could definitely hurt us,†said _Mike Moore_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/mike_moore/index.html?inline=nyt-per) ,
the business manager for the designer Jackie Rogers. “People in the industry go
from one show to another show to another show, and they’ll be afraid they’
ll get stuck downtown or somewhere and can’t get to the next one.â€
September 5, 2007, 7:40 am
Taxi Strike Begins; City Says It Is Prepared
By _Sewell Chan_ (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/author/schan/)
Updated, 2:08 p.m. | At an afternoon news conference at City Hall, Mayor
Michael R. Bloomberg said that owners of the city’s big taxi fleets, which
comprise 30 to 40 percent of the industry, reported that 75 percent of their cabs
were on the road today, compared with 93 percent last Wednesday. The mayor
also said that there were about 14 percent fewer cabs than normal at Kennedy
International Airport.
The mayor dismissed the impact of the strike but also maintained that drivers
had been treated fairly because of fare increases in 2004 and 2005. “The
credit card system will give customers more payment options and they will
result, every study shows, in bigger tips for drivers,†he said, defending a set of
technology improvements, including credit card readers and G.P.S.-equipped
passenger information and navigational screens that display advertising and
allow riders to track their route.
“These technology enhancements along with the increased fares really have
improved service and will continue to improve the quality of life for passengers
and drivers,†he said. “Those are the facts.â€
Earlier, at a 10 a.m. news conference on the West Side of Manhattan, leaders
of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which called the two-day taxi strike,
said the labor action was a success, with a vast majority of drivers staying
off the roads. “Drivers have stood up in unity, have stood up for themselves,
have demanded dignity on the job and have said, ‘We will fight back,’†said
Bhairavi Desai, the organizer of the alliance.
Ed Ott, the executive director of the New York City Central Labor Council, an
A.F.L.-C.I.O. umbrella group for the city’s unions, spoke alongside Ms.
Desai in support of the strike and said the walkout was effective. “Quite
frankly, if you can’t see the difference between yesterday at Penn Station and
today, you’re blind or you’re a tourist,†he declared.
The _strike_
(http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/city-girds-for-cabbie-walkout/) began at 5 a.m. today and resulted in what appeared to be a
substantial reduction in the number of yellow cabs available at New York City’s
two major airports and Pennsylvania Station. But it was not clear just how
many of the city’s 13,000 yellow cabs were part of the strike, and city
officials insisted that they were prepared to withstand the effects of the walkout.
At Kennedy International Airport, dispatchers said there were fewer yellow
cabs than normal in the morning. Around 7 a.m., about 50 airline passengers
waited outside Terminal 9 for a cab and were told that the wait could be as long
as a half-hour.
Joshua Olken, 29, a consultant from Boston who had an 8 a.m. meeting in
Midtown, was on the line around 7:30 a.m. “It’s not usually this long,†he said
of the line. “Usually there are a lot more cabs than this. I should have taken
the train.â€
Not far away, a large pool of livery drivers waited for work. The city has
the power to authorize livery cabs to pick up street hails — usually the
exclusive right of yellow cabs — but has not taken that step so far.
The city has _announced_
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/nyregion/05taxis.html) a _contingency plan_
(http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=119
4&doc_name=http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/html/2007b/pr320-07.html&cc=unused1978&r
c=1194&ndi=1) that includes a zone-based fare structure, with four zones for
Manhattan and one each for the other boroughs. Nonstriking drivers will be
allowed to charge each passenger a fare of $10 for a trip in a single zone and
$5 more for each zone they enter or drive through. The fare between
Manhattan and Kennedy International Airport would be $30 a person and for La Guardia
Airport $20 a person. The regular rate to or from Kennedy is $45 a trip, not
per passenger. Fares to La Guardia are normally calculated on the meter.
At Pennsylvania Station, the strike appeared to be having an effect. Lines
for cabs gathered sporadically around Seventh Avenue. The lines were gradually
dispersed when a few yellow cabs came to pick up passengers, but several
regular commuters said the wait was twice as long as usual.
Ms. Desai estimated this morning that 90 percent of the city’s yellow cabs
were either parked in garages or in drivers’ homes and not on the road. She
said the cabs at Penn Station represented a fairly small number of cabs that
were picking up passengers, driving them short distances in Midtown and then
returning.
“We see this as a resounding success,†she said early this morning. “The
majority of drivers stayed home.â€
She added: “In Queens, the taxis have stayed in the garages. Drivers have
stood up to say: We have dignity on the job.â€
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance primarily represents drivers who lease
their vehicles from a garage or broker. Many of the drivers are upset about a
requirement that cabs install new technology by next year.
But the city’s taxicab _industry_
(http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/threat-of-taxi-strike-puts-focus-on-changing-industry/) is notoriously
fragmented. Individual owner-drivers represent, who were once a mainstay of the
business, now represent perhaps one-fifth of the workforce. Most drivers
lease their cabs daily or on long-term contracts from medallion owners and must
pay a garage or broker a set amount before breaking money and earning money
for themselves.
Some drivers said they could not afford the loss of income from striking.
“I have my daughter’s school and my own to pay for, and I need to work,†one
nonstriking driver, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said on the
West Side of Manhattan. “I support them, but this time, I can’t do it.†She
said she was a student at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn and had driven a cab
since 1997.
The _Taxi Workers Alliance_ (http://www.nytwa.org/) has established a “
strike headquarters†at 80 West End Avenue, the offices of _Local 100 of the
Transport Workers Union_ (http://www.twulocal100.org/) , which represents the city’
s subway and bus workers and carried out a three-day strike in December
2005. Ms. Desai said that the Taxi Workers Alliance would hold a news conference
there for 10 a.m.
Outside the headquarters, Ms. Desai said this morning that drivers were
making “a tremendous sacrifice in an industry that is traditionally so difficult
to organize.†She added, “There has been tremendous opposition and propaganda
against us, but still, the majority of the drivers have stayed in unity.â€
Kate Hammer, Winter Miller and Mathew R. Warren contributed reporting.