Yellow Scapegoats

Reposted from the NY Taxi Workers Alliance Website: NYTWA's Response to Proposed Suspensions for 2 Refusals in 2 Years:

For Immediate Release: February 24, 2011 Statement by Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director, New York Taxi Workers Alliance, union of 15,000 yellow cab drivers ”First of all, let's understand the numbers: 2,341 out of 750,000 fares a year is 0.003%. Secondly, these are complaints - not convictions. Refusals are an economic problem that need an economic solution, the TLC's proposal just scapegoats and punishes drivers instead. In the end, it tells us that the city is not actually serious about solving the issue for the sake of the rider and of course, never for the sake of the driver. And really, if the city can make more money off of more refusals and there are record-high number of license holders to fill the ranks of suspended drivers - why would they really try to address it? The easy road is to scapegoat, punish and give the public a false satisfaction. Telling taxi drivers who labor 12-hour shifts, 6 to 7 days a week, without guaranteed income, benefits or protection, that they'll be out of work for 30 days if they refuse a fare a year for two years is adding insult to injury. Of course, this is on top of the Mayor's plan to give away our fares in the outer boroughs to a new second tier taxi and bringing us more competition in Manhattan and the airports. The real solution is to address the real economics of the industry - lower the lease, change the fares.”