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South Asian Network
18173 S. Pioneer Blvd
Suite I, 2nd Floor
Artesia, CA 90701
Tel: 562.403.0488
Fax: 562.403.0487
Email:
saninfo@southasiannetwork.org
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By Chirag
Shah
-----------------------------------------------------
Taxi workers have long been an
invisible population in the Los Angeles economy and culture. They number
in thousands yet toil in total obscurity in a thankless occupation full
of danger and insecurity. For decades, these largely immigrant drivers
have been systematically abused at the hands of powerful and wealthy
individuals and corporations throughout Los Angeles County. This brief
article is intended to give some background information about the taxi
drivers working conditions and introduce the reader to a multi-cultural,
organic and worker-driven movement currently underway in Los Angeles and
the South Bay.
Many of us know that taxi workers in Los Angeles work under an abusive
and oppressive scheme established by owners of large taxi cab
franchises; the workers have no control whatsoever or input in this
scheme. A preliminary survey of taxi workers’ economic conditions
revealed that on average the drivers earn less than $5 per hour and work
over 80 hours per week! Said Zahid Butt, a Pakistani immigrant who has
been driving taxis for over 15 years: “It is hard to explain our
economic situation to my 15 year old son, who asks: why don’t you have a
good job dad? Why can’t you provide me with a room of my own? Why do we
have to struggle for meals and rent everyday?” (Zahid and his family of
five live in a one bedroom apartment in Koreatown.) Sentayehu Silassie,
an Ethiopian-born taxi driver who immigrated to the United States
looking for a better life for his family, shares this sentiment: “We
spend all our time driving all around just so that we can barely make
it. There is never anything left over for my six year old daughter, who
on top of everything else, I have not spent one full day with since she
WAS BORN.”
In November 2004, a group of courageous taxi workers, including Zahid
Butt and Sentayehu Silassie, came together to challenge these
long-standing abuses and stand up for a dignified workplace and way of
life. Lacking any support from many institutions in our city, they
turned to a group of activists and community organizers for solidarity
with this seemingly impossible task. The South Asian Network (SAN) in
Artesia, along with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) and
the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA), also came together in a
coordinated effort to improve the lives and conditions of taxi workers.
Starting in late 2004, SAN mobilized a small group of activists and
attorneys (including yours truly, SAN Executive Director Hamid Khan,
LAFLA Employment Unit Directing Attorney Betty Hung and Senior Attorney
Steve Zrucky, and APALC Litigation Director Julie Su) who agreed to
fight strong to bring economic and workplace justice and basic human
dignity to the taxi workers and their industry. Several nonprofit
organizations as well as attorneys and community organizers have since
joined this movement. In July 2005, all of this “background work”
ultimately led to the birth of a historic organization: the Los Angeles
Taxi Workers Alliance or “LATWA.”
Some of the primary goals of LATWA include industry reform and drastic
improvement of working conditions for thousands of taxi workers. As
stated above, the genesis of LATWA was the lack of any organized,
cohesive voice speaking for the workers and decades of abuse at the
hands of many institutions. The work that LATWA undertakes is
accomplished through an organizing committee consisting of workers,
organizers, and lawyers. LATWA seeks to accomplish its mission through
organizing, policy advocacy, litigation and worker and public education
and empowerment. LATWA is currently in the process of developing more
fully its organizational capacity as the battle for true justice has
just now begun.
Through LATWA’s efforts, in addition to economic injustice, the worker
abuses that have been uncovered to date in this industry include lack of
any real political power; non-responsive, non-inclusive cab companies
with no accountability to their shareholders or their drivers;
excessively prohibitive regulation of taxi workers with no relation to
passenger safety or public benefit; lack of livable wages and an
unconscionable economic imbalance; high incidence of injury and poor
health with no medical or retirement benefits of any kind; extreme
working shifts and hours, regularly 12 to 13 hours a day, 7 days a week.
One example is that Los Angeles is the only major city in the United
States with an official dress code for a taxi driver which mandates a
tie along with black pants, white shirt, and shoes for people who work
in boiling temperatures! Another example is that taxi drivers are
required by city ordinances and company policies to pay for and carry
liability insurance to protect the big companies, while that same
insurance gives no benefits to the workers who pay for it; the workers
also do not have any workers’ compensation or health insurance.
LATWA and its Organizing Committee are hard at work on several
campaigns, advocacy before governmental bodies, community and public
education, good old-fashioned organizing, and a litigation strategy. But
this is a monumental task and requires many, many more concerned,
committed individuals and organizations to join in solidarity towards
the common goal of improving the lives and working conditions of taxi
workers. Anyone with the slightest sense of social and economic justice
would immediately see that these are courageous times for the workers;
they are empowering people, indeed. Their stories of struggle—and their
Herculean victories-- will someday be heard throughout our nation.
Chirag
Shah is long-time volunteer at SAN and serves on the LATWA Organizing
Committee. More
information about LATWA can be found at
www.latwa.org |
