The New York Taxi Worker’s Alliance (NYTWA) formed in 1998 to “address working conditions, work protection and other concerns” of NYC  taxi drivers. Founded by a committee of 12 with Ms.  Bharaivi Desai at the head, they fight for the rights of these workers. One of their biggest and most recent victories was in 2004 with the establishment of the Living Wage Standard for New York taxi drivers. After 9/11, taxi drivers’ incomes had plummeted; the NYTWA worked with the mayor’s office and the garage owners to negotiate a fare increase and to ensure that 60 to 70% of that raise would end up in the pockets of the drivers themselves, not the garage owners. This was a major success when compared to the fare increase of 1996, when only 14%  ended up with the drivers’.

 

In the 1990s, there was a great wave of South Asian immigration in New York City, and the taxi driver industry shifted from mostly Jewish to a varied population of South Asian immigrants. South Asians consist of people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. They are often very well-educated people who are forced to obtain jobs as taxi drivers when they come here because they are undocumented.

 

Working Conditions

    The working conditions of cab drivers are awful. The wages are very low because they have to pay for renting the car and for gas, so they need to worry to

    It’s often a dangerous job as well. They often experience verbal and physical abuse.  At night 80% of drivers are expected to be robbed. Passengers mistreat them, sometimes skipping out on the fare or even physically attacking the drivers. The police often abuse them as well, issuing tickets that they know won’t be contested because the drivers don’t have time or money. After 9/11, they were forced to deal with more abuse because of their ethnicity.