About NYTWA Mission & History
| Mission and History |
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Founded in 1998, NYTWA is the 11,000+ member strong union of NYC yellow taxicab drivers. We fight for justice, rights, respect and dignity for the over 43,000 licensed men and women—with 26,000 steady drivers—who labor 12-hour shifts with little pay and no benefits or protection in the city's mobile sweatshop. Our members come from every community, garage, and neighborhood. We are the first non-collective bargaining agent member of a Central Labor Council in the USA, voted into NYC CLC in 2007. We are also founding members of the 30-city, 3-continent (and growing) International Taxi Workers Alliance.
The Department of Labor ranks taxi driving as the most dangerous job in the country, with drivers 60 times more likely to be killed and 80 times more likely to be robbed on the job than other US workers. Drivers face discrimination at the hands of the police, harsh regulations, and Taxi and Limousine Commission courts devoid of due process. NYTWA fights campaigns for structural change in the industry and supports individual drivers through comprehensive advocacy/services. We build driver power with unity, action and a democratic organization. Our work overcomes obstacles of independent contractor organizing, a politically influential and consolidated ownership, and a regulatory agency absent of any public accountability or labor voice. We are committed to a progressive, internationalist labor movement that stands in steadfast solidarity with workers' movements of the US and the world. |