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