Union Summer Students Join PG Taxi Driver Struggle

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Dozens of Union Summer recruits joined Prince George's County taxi drivers at a high-spirited demonstration Friday in front of – and inside – the Gaylord National Hotel and Resort at National Harbor. “What do we want?” “Taxi stand!” rang out the chant as some 50 drivers and Union Summer activists circled in front of the Gaylord just after 11 Friday morning, after the students staged a flash mob inside the hotel.“I've been here since 5 a.m.,” driver Rosa Bizuayehu said, “finally at 10 a.m. I got a $10 fare. I have a kid to support. We're just trying to earn a living here; it's not fair.” The drivers – supported by the AFL-CIO – have been fighting for the right to pick up customers in front of the Gaylord, which recently moved them off the hotel property in favor of a foreign-owned, and more expensive, car service. “Greed No, Choice Yes!” the demonstrators chanted. “I'm really excited to be here and to be getting more involved,” said Union Summer student Caitlin MacLaren, a Miami student who will be working in Austin, Texas this summer. Getting involved in worker struggles through involvement at school in United Students Against Sweatshops “helped me see that labor is where many of these struggles come together,” she said, as the chanting crowd swirled around her in the bright sunlight. “The plan after this is to organize into a union so that we'll have more power,” said driver Amanuel Gebrewold. “Without a union we have no power.” - report/photo by Chris Garlock