Taxi drivers nationwide are turning to unions, including the Teamsters and the National Taxi Workers Alliance, in their battle against unregulated on-call car services whose drivers and vehicles don't have to meet – and often flout – simple requirements such as insurance. And the taxi drivers, in some cases in coalition with cab companies, are making headway with state and local governments in demanding and getting a more-level playing field with Uber, Lyft and other such services. The latest successes come in the Washington, D.C., area. D.C. is regulating the on-call services, after the Teamster-member taxi drivers showed their power through a mass taxicab parade earlier this year tied up major downtown streets, including Pennsylvania Avenue, for hours. Unionized taxi drivers have also had successes against the unregulated services in Chicago and New York. The Community Services Agency is organizing a Union Volunteer Committee to identify projects needing help in the community, and organizing volunteers from affiliated local unions to work on these projects. “This is a great way to raise the visibility of labor and CSA and to do good for our neighbors in the process,” says CSA Executive Director Kathleen McKirchy. Committee involvement will include a few meetings per year -- most can be via phone -- as well as assistance with events. If interested, call Kathleen McKirchy, 202-974-8221 or email [email protected]
Sometimes news about a heroic act is slow to get out because of the humility or reluctance of the hero to come forward. That’s the case with ATU 689 member Mamie Doyle (left), who risked her own life to stop a suicide earlier this year. It happened on a cold day in February on the Beltway in Virginia. Doyle was driving her bus back to the garage after her first run of the day, when she noticed a woman walking dangerously on the highway toward an overpass railing. She immediately called “911”. When she saw the woman start to lean over the side of the bridge, Doyle stopped her bus and risked her own life running across eight lanes of traffic, caught the woman just as she was about to leap and held on even as the woman screamed and cried and fought to escape. It was later discovered that the woman had taken PCP, which made her extremely dangerous. Doyle received a letter of commendation and a “gold valor” award from the police, as well as her union’s “great admiration for her heroic actions above and beyond the call of duty.” - ATU Dispatch “Africa rising” was the catchphrase buzzing around Washington, D.C., last week, as African heads of state met for a three-day summit with U.S. government and private business. But Joel Odigie (r), coordinator of human and trade union rights for the International Trade Union Confederation-Africa, says working people are not benefiting from the continent’s economic growth. “In reality, there is an economic growth in Africa that is for the 1 percent.” Read more from Odigie and other African trade unionists profiled at the Solidarity Center website. |