Taxicab Strike Set For October 22nd

Strike No.2 for (some of) the cabbies of New York City. After the first strike last month and the failed attempt in the courts didn't work, the NY Taxi Workers Alliance voted unanimously (500 votes out of 13,000 drivers in the city) to stop their meters and sit the day out on the sides of the avenues, streets and highways. The difference this time is that there is more to the strike. Union workers want health care, union rights and a pension fund. Those are all admirable items that workers should have, but after the last couple months of PR battles, cabbies have been on the losing end and getting to the top of this hill is a longshot.

From AM New York:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city will probably institute a contingency plan again. Last time, passengers shared cabs for flat fares. He also reiterated Tuesday that drivers agreed to the technology years ago when fares were raised.

"I've never thought that strikes lead any place," Michael Bloomberg said.

Another work action would be no more effective in bargaining with the Taxi & Limousine Commission or city than the last one, said Edward Rogoff, a Baruch College management professor who's studied the taxi industry.

"If it doesn't have a significant chance of winning, which it doesn't, it doesn't help anyone," he said.

There are others that believe in the cause and that the Alliance "holds weight" but personally I fail to see it. Bloomberg is wrong to say that strikes aren't effective but in this particular case I agree. The additional requests by the cab drivers are valid but this whole brouhaha makes the new developments look like a PR stunt.