unified taxi workers alliance

On this month's show:
    •    Highlights and victories from PSU's '09-'10 school year
    •    Connecting the struggles of students and taxi workers
    •    Philly & Harrisburg students talk about ending violence
    •    Youth express themsleves through poetry
    •    Music and education news

This show was hosted by Azeem Hill and Gregory Jordan-Detamore. Matt Johnson was the engineer.

On this episode of Labor Justice Radio:

+SEIU members fight for fair treatment in Delaware

+Philly responds to city budget cuts

+Queer immigrants talk about repression and resistance

+Day laborers speak about their right to work

+Music and local news

Yesterday, taxi drivers and their allies gathered for a prayer vigil to honor the taxi drivers who were recently victimized by the Philadelphia Parking Authority and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Members of many different organizations from across the city were there to demand justice for the drivers and their families. Religious and community leaders took the megaphone to send a message to the PPA that this kind of worker mistreatment won't be tolerated by the people of Philadelphia. Photos here.

Shania Morris, a rising high school freshman, represented Philadelphia Student Union at the vigil. She spoke about how this kind of harassment, especially when looked at alongside the long hours and constant mistreatment faced by taxi drivers, constitutes a form of structural violence similar to the kind faced by young people in our schools and communities.

The Unifed Taxi Workers Alliance invites you to stand with drivers to demand that the PPA stop criminalizing workers. Stand up for work with dignity. Come to a prayer vigil for the families who have been targeted and whose rights have been violated in the recent raids on Philadelphia Taxi Drivers. An attack against one of us is an attack against all people struggling to survive in this city.

Prayer Vigil

For Our Brothers & Sisters Victimized in PPA Immigration Raids

Wednesday, July 7th

12-2pm

PPA Headquarters, 3101 Market St.

This Friday at 7pm join us for a screening of two important independent films about the life, work, and organizing of taxi drivers in Philadelphia. 

Taxi drivers are 60 times more likely to be assaulted or killed on the job than people in any other occupation. The Unified Taxi Workers Alliance (UTWA) has led the charge to make sure all people who come in contact with the taxi industry -- whether drivers or passengers -- are afforded the rights they deserve as human beings.

With landmark legislation in front of the PA House of Representatives to ensure workers compensation for drivers injured or killed on the job there couldn't be a more important time to watch and learn from the stories of drivers across our city. 

Come to Scribe Video Center at 4212 Chestnut St, 3rd floor on Friday June 11th, at 7pm to watch.

And if you can't make the screening, make sure you support the work of taxi drivers and sign on to the petition for workers compensation.

Community members from across Philadelphia are coming out in support of the striking nurses and allied professionals at Temple Hospital. Support for the nurses continues to grow as Temple University Hospital System (TUHS) continuously violates the public trust and puts their profit before everyday Philadelphians and the future of our city.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the public hearing last Friday March 19th at City Hall.  MMP was there along with representation from every group in MMP.

On this show:

+Interviews with leaders of the Save the Libraries Coalition  

+A cab driver speaks about how the Philadelphia Parking Authority is mismanaging the taxi industry

+The Coalition of Immokolee Workers comes to Philadelphia to take on Aramark

+Immigrant worker's face the loss of driver licenses

+Music and other news

Terrence, a member of Unified Taxi Workers Alliance, has 25 years of experience driving a cab in Philadelphia. In this interview, he exposes some of the flaws in way that the Philadelphia Parking Authority is running the taxi system; from training to dispatching to managing. Terrence also exposes what some might call 'extortion under color of authority.'

This story was produced by Charles Clarke for Labor Justice Radio.

Driving the American Dream is an exploration into the role and effect lawmakers and state regulators play in the lives of Philadelphia’s taxi drivers. This short film reveals the very real and lived experiences of poor and working drivers that struggle each day to provide for their families. In the face of health risks without disability insurance, drivers are economically forced to work even when sick, preventing service  the riding public deserves.