New York Taxi Workers Alliance is a labor union founded in 1998 to organize largely independent-contractor taxi drivers in the New York City area. It affiliated with the AFL-CIO federation of labor unions in 2011, becoming the first national affiliate union of the AFL-CIO to be comprised of employees not paid hourly wages.

The NYTWA has led a variety of organizing campaigns, strikes, and protests since 1998, including opposing new taxes on fares and a ban on headsets. In recent years the unions have supported stronger regulations against Uber, Lyft, and other rideshare apps. The union has advocated that Uber and Lyft treat drivers as formal employees and provide them benefits. ^{1 2 3}

Background and History

New York Taxi Workers Association was founded in 1998 by Bhairavi Desai, who previously worked for the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, where she was assigned to a project with a group of South Asian taxi drivers. Desai began organizing taxi workers in her free time after leaving the committee and co-founding what was dubbed the Taxi Workers Alliance, along with two taxi drivers from Pakistan and Biju Mathew, a Marxist associate professor at Rider University. The organization was first founded to oppose new rules on taxi drivers proposed by then-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) which included making it easier for licenses to be revoked and regular drug testing of drivers. The union led a strike against the rules which ultimately failed as the new rules were popular with the public. The union continued operation and has been headed by Desai since its founding. ^{4 5}

In 2011, NYTWA founded the National Taxi Workers Alliance which at the time only operated chapters in Philadelphia and New York. The newly formed national union was granted status as the 57th affiliated national union with the large national labor federation the AFL-CIO. Desai, who is jointly the NTWA and NYTWA president, was given a seat on the AFL-CIO executive committee. The NTWA was the first union affiliated with the AFL-CIO comprised of non-traditional waged employees since the farm workers’ unions were formed in the 1960s and was the first-ever national AFL-CIO affiliate comprised of independent contractors. The NYTWA and NTWA share staff and leadership and act largely as the same organization. ^{6 7}

Policy Positions

New York Taxi Workers Alliance conducts advocacy and strikes in a manner similar to other unions but has employed different tactics due to its unique structure of being comprised of independent contractors. The union pushes for pay raises for drivers as well as certain benefits such as unemployment insurance typically not provided to independent contractors. Since the proliferation of app-based rideshare services like Uber and Lyft, the union has conducted efforts to organize rideshare drivers for pay raises and benefits such as unemployment insurance for drivers. ⁸

In 2020 the union sued then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) on behalf of Uber and Lyft drivers in federal court “for not treating app-based drivers as employees.” In July 2020, a federal judge “ordered the Dept. of Labor to pay app-based drivers the full employee rate of UI benefits, instead of the lower rate for self-employed workers that many app drivers were getting under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.” The lawsuit came at the same time the union was pushing for employee status for app-based drivers and lobbying for requirements that rideshare apps share driver earnings data with the state and federal governments. ⁹

The NYTWA is aligned with a far-left ideology on labor organizing, calling for a “militant labor movement that is committed to broader social justice values” and for more representation of non-traditional employees such as independent contractors within the broader labor movement. The group also states that it is committed to a “progressive, internationalist, democratic labor movement that stands in steadfast solidarity with workers’ movements of the U.S. and around the world.” ¹⁰

The union also notes that often throughout its history, it has taken political action and conducted grassroots organizing for other left-of-center political issues such as opposing then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s (R) “quality of life” campaigns in the 1990s, which it claimed “targeted communities of color and the poor.” The union has organized four anti-war protests, was the first union to pass resolutions opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and led protests against workplace discrimination against Muslims and Sikhs. ¹¹

Affiliations

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, through the National Taxi Workers Alliance, which the union founded in 2011 in order to gain national recognition from the AFL-CIO. The National Taxi Workers Alliance shares leadership with the NYTWA and has affiliate chapters in Philadelphia, Austin, Montgomery County, and San Francisco. The union is also an affiliate of the International Transport Workers’ Federation through the National Taxi Workers Union. ¹²

Leadership

Bhairavi Desai is the founder and president of both the New York Taxi Workers Alliance and the National Taxi Workers Alliance. Desai won a monetary award from the Ford Foundation in 2005 and has been active in left-of-center organizing as well as left-of-center Palestinian, Cuban, and El Salvadoran solidarity movements. She sits on the AFL-CIO executive committee on behalf of the National Taxi Workers Alliance. ^{13 14}

Biju Mathew, a Marxist activist who is also a business professor at Rider University, was also among the founders of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance in 1998 and is the secretary of both the NYTWA and the NTWA. In 2020, Mathew co-founded the International Alliance of App-Based Transport Workers (IAATW). ^{15 16}

1. “UI For App Drivers.” New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Accessed August 14, 2023. https://www.nytwa.org/app-drivers-ui
2. Widdicombe, Lizzie. “Thin Yellow Line.” New Yorker. April 11, 2011. Accessed August 14, 2023.  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/04/18/thin-yellow-line
3. “Mission and History.” New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Accessed August 14, 2023. https://www.nytwa.org/mission-history
4. Widdicombe, Lizzie. “Thin Yellow Line.” New Yorker. April 11, 2011. Accessed August 14, 2023. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/04/18/thin-yellow-line
5. “Mission and History.” New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Accessed August 14, 2023. https://www.nytwa.org/mission-history
6. ^[1] “Mission and History.” New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Accessed August 14, 2023. https://www.nytwa.org/mission-history
7. “Board and Officers.” New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Accessed August 14, 2023. https://www.nytwa.org/board-and-officers
8. “Mission and History.” New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Accessed August 14, 2023. https://www.nytwa.org/mission-history
9. “App Drivers UI.” New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Accessed August 14, 2023.  https://www.nytwa.org/app-drivers-ui
10. “Mission and History.” New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Accessed August 14, 2023. https://www.nytwa.org/mission-history
11. “Mission and History.” New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Accessed August 14, 2023. https://www.nytwa.org/mission-history
12. “Affiliations.” New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Accessed August 14, 2023. https://www.nytwa.org/affiliations-1
13. Widdicombe, Lizzie. “Thin Yellow Line.” New Yorker. April 11, 2011. Accessed August 14, 2023.  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/04/18/thin-yellow-line
14. Bihari, Atul. “NRI, New York taxi driver’s organizer wins Ford Foundation award.” NRI Taxi. October 11, 2005. Accessed August 14, 2023. http://www.nriinternet.com/NRItaxi/USA/Union/Bhairavi%20Desai/
15. “NRI, New York taxi drivers organizer wins Ford Foundation award.” NRI Taxi. October 11, 2005. Accessed August 14, 2023. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/gig-economy-uber-unions
16. Widdicombe, Lizzie. “Thin Yellow Line.” New Yorker. April 11, 2011. Accessed August 14, 2023.  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/04/18/thin-yellow-line