The Alliance

"It's a new union... we are driver-led and driver-focused... and we are here to replace that useless old union... You may not be a member now, but we hope you will be soon."

- Javaid Tariq, taxi driver and member of the TWA (from Biju Mattew's new book, Taxi!: Cabs and Capitalism in New York)

Note to any visitors to our page: this information is from a phone conversation with one of the members of the New York Taxi Worker's Alliance, Biju Matthew.

Biju Matthew. Photo courtesty www.brechtforum.org

• The Taxi Workers Alliance was founded in 1998. Before then, it was a separate organization, existing as the Lease Driver's Coalition under the larger Asian social justice organization CAAAV

• Bhairavi Desai is the director for the TWA with 12 other committee members.

• There are about 5,500 members in all.

• The proportion of the nationalities within the organization reflect the proportion of the nationalities within the taxi industry. There are about 55-60% South Asian, 10-15% West African, 25% Haitian/Arab/Eastern European

• They hold an Organizing Committee meeting every month which is made up of about three quarters drivers and one quarter are non-driver organizers.

Issues TWA addresses

• Drivers are getting cheated out of their money by brokers who lease medallions for exorbitant amounts of money. The Allliance helps drivers file complaints against these brokers.

• Drivers are constantly being harrassed by the NYPD because they are easy targets. Police give heavy tickets and fines because they know cabbies don't have the time to fight the tickets.

• Heavier fines on drivers means more money for the city.

• Racial targeting and harrassment of drivers, by police, customers and garage owners, is an everyday occurance- almost all are Third World immigrants.

• The majority of drivers are, however, Muslim and in post September 11th New York they can be major targets.

Taxi Workers Alliance Main Page | Biography of Bhairavi Desai