Outside of CAAAV: New York Taxi Worker Alliance

On March 8, 1998, former LDC members, referring to themselves as the Organizing Committee, issued a letter stating their decision to separate from CAAAV (and subsequently the LDC) to create an independent organization known as the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA). [1]

NYTWA continues to exist today. Their mission is to organize and unite all yellow cab drivers to fight for economic and political justice, respect, and dignity. To achieve their mission, the group continued the work done by the LDC to campaign against the TLC (which they began under the banner of LDC) and initially presented these 13 demands to the agency:

1. "Stop fining drivers when a headlight or break light or trouble light is out.
2. Stop fining drivers during midshift for small problems in the interior of the cab: cleanliness, the map is missing, the hand rail is broken, the seat belt has been pushed under the seat.
3. Stop fining drivers during midshift if there is a receipt hanging off the meter.
4. Stop confiscating the rate card on Fridays for small car problems.
5. Establish a health benefit fund for the drivers.
6. Require passengers to give the fare upfront in the nighttime.
7. Move TLC cases to Traffic Violations Court.
8. Require garage owners to present copies of the lease agreement to the driver.
9. Stop garage owners and brokers from forcing drivers to pay for owners' summons.
10. Assign inspectors to make certain that garage owners and brokers are following the lease cap.
11. Assign Commissioners to be available to assist drivers with any and all problems concerning the lease agreement.
12. Establish a representative committee of lease drivers who will have influence and decision-making power when rules are drafted.
13.  Remove drivers' names on hack liscences [sic] for display. Require only the liscence [sic] number." [2]

Over time, these demands would change but, to this day, many still fall under three essential factors: economic rights ("right to a decent living"), respect & dignity ("drivers are required to be a part of the TLC decision-making process"), and justice ("one court, one verdict system"). [3]

Bhairavi Desai in Voice newsletter, Spring 1998, CAAAV Digital Archive

One founding member of the NYTWA to note is Bhairavi Desai, who emigrated with her family from Gujarat, India, to New Jersey when she was six years old. Desai grew up politically engaged through her father's New Jersey convenience store, which she saw as a community hub, and pushed her towards organizing and advocacy work as an adult. [8]

She would receive a degree in Women's Studies from Rutgers University and work at Manavi, a New Jersey-based South Asian organization for survivors of gender-based violence. By 1996, she began working at CAAAV as a program coordinator for their project, Lease Drivers Coalition. [9] However, the ideologies between the organization and members of LDC clashed, especially in terms of defining the latter as a union. Desai was a part of the Organizing Committee that issued the 1998 letter that signified the split from LDC to NYTWA.

When she and other members separated from CAAAV to create NYTWA, they had already built rapport and organized with many drivers around the city. Her ability to reach these drivers, especially as a woman in a male-dominated space, has caused the union to grow exponentially two decades later. Under her leadership as Executive Director, she has been recognized with a Ford Foundation Leadership for a Changing World Award in 2005 and the Ernest DeMaio Labor Award in 2008 [10], among many more.