MontCo Taxi Drivers To Join National Taxi Workers Alliance
Friday, August 1, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)The newly-formed
Montgomery County Professional Drivers
Union (MCPDU) on
Thursday received an Organizing Charter from the
National
Taxi Workers Alliance (NTWA). “You’ve taken a city where drivers have been
invisible” and exposed their exploitation, said NTWA President Bhairavi
Desai.
“The overwhelming majority of workers in this industry are immigrants,
exploited and disenfranchised, told that you have no rights, but that changes
now, not just in Montgomery County but throughout this region, which is such a
critical place because it’s the capital.” Indeed, MCPDU President Peter
Ibik, wearing
his trademark cowboy hat, said that “We have already noticed a bigchange”
in
how Montgomery taxi drivers are being treated, “because of (the AFL-CIO and
NTWA) being behind us. We’re going to keep moving forward, we’re not going
to
stop.” Taxi drivers in Montgomery County are labeled as independent
contractors. Because of their independent status, the more than 800
licensed taxi drivers in Montgomery County are not protected by any wage and
hour laws or worker compensation laws and have no health insurance, disability
insurance or any form of retirement benefits. In a
related story, dozens of Super Shuttle drivers and their
UFCW 1994 supporters demonstrated at Dulles Airport on July 26 in an ongoing
organizing campaign at Veolia. photos: (top right) MCPDU members in front of
the
AFL-CIO; Desai is in blue dress at left, Ibik, in cowboy hat, is next to
her; photo by Chris Garlock; (bottom, l-r) UFCW 1994's Nelvin Ransome,
Jerry Bonparte (kneeling), Marjorie Brown Nelson, Yvette Cuffie and President
Gino Renne at the Dulles airport caravan in support of Super Shuttle
workers; photo by Sharon Black
Montgomery
County taxi drivers join forces with AFL-CIO union
The Washington
Post, by Luz Lazo