Taxi!: Cabs and Capitalism in New York City
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.23 (685 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0801474396 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 272 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-12-25 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
This updated edition covers the formation of the International Taxi Workers Alliance, the unusual collaboration with the Central Labor Council, and 2007 taxi strikes protesting New York City's plan requiring taxicabs to install costly global positioning systems and credit-card machines.. In describing precisely how a group of seemingly powerless immigrant workers flexed their muscles, Taxi! critiques the labor movement and the broader movement for social justice."Left TurnDriving a cab has long attracted recent immigrants and others at the margins of the economy. "Mathew, as a member of the Organizing Committee of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, has a unique perspective on the plight of immigrant taxi drivers. The book culminates in an essay on globalization, immigration, racism, and the false veneer of multiculturalism in neoliberal society."Booklist"Mathew describes the grim economics of driving the ubiquitous yellow cabsa job where most of the money goes to the cab company owners and where even minor problems, such as a few tickets or a short illness, can spell disaster for drivers."Financial Times"Jump
They are thought of as second-class citizens, harassed by police and passengers, and are subject to stiff fines for minor offenses. Mathew explores the history of New York's taxicab industry, which has been in a cycle of corruption, reform, and corruption since the Depression. Yet this diverse workforce that speaks over 80 different languages organized a strike in 1998 in the face of opposition from Mayor Rudy Giuliani. From Booklist Mathew, as a member of the Organizing Committee of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, has a unique perspective on the plight of immigrant taxi drivers. David SiegfriedCopyright © American Library Association. The book culminates in an essay on globalization, immigration, racism, and the false veneer of multiculturalism in neoliberal society. The system is rigged so that the most vulnerable person, the driver, takes on all of the risk. Cab drivers pay a leasing fee of $120 p
A cheering story of labor organizing in difficult times "Taxi!" tells the story of the organization in the last ten years of a successful labor union - though never recognized officially as such - by NYC cab drivers. There had been an official AFL-CIO union but its leadership had (in the 70s) sold out the drivers coming into the industry in return for pennies for oldtimers, and a dues check-off. The union gave in to the corrupt local Democratic politicians who helped taxi "brokers" legalize a "leasing" system in which drivers make a daily cash "lease" payment befo. Uses interactions from the drivers themselves to reveal the history of the taxi business Midwest Book Review New York City taxi drivers work long shifts, seven days a week: most are lease drivers on a daily or weekly contract and until the relatively recent Taxi Workers Alliance was formed, most bore the brunt of bad business. Taxi! comes from Biju Mathew, a long-time organizer of the Alliance, and uses interactions from the drivers themselves to reveal the history of the taxi business. Chapters focus on labor struggles and urban politics in New York as much as on immigrant history and influences on the taxi industr. Uses interactions from the drivers themselves to reveal the history of the taxi business Midwest Book Review New York City taxi drivers work long shifts, seven days a week: most are lease drivers on a daily or weekly contract and until the relatively recent Taxi Workers Alliance was formed, most bore the brunt of bad business. Taxi! comes from Biju Mathew, a long-time organizer of the Alliance, and uses interactions from the drivers themselves to reveal the history of the taxi business. Chapters focus on labor struggles and urban politics in New York as much as on immigrant history and influences on the taxi industr