The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-04-03
TAXI DRIVERS
I. OF NEW YORK
SEEKING UNION
Police Terrorism Stops
Organization
tspeeIaI to The paIIy workerl

NEW YORK, (FP) - How badly
New York taxlcab drivers need a un-
ion is forcibly shown by these work
ers' helpIessness to combat the Sian.
derous attack made on them by GER
tain daily newspapers. The drivers
are angry and can bring facts to give
the lie to many charges made against
them but they lack organization to
give their point Of view publicity.
Those Of them who have had labor
union experience and are trying to
encourage organization among the
drivers come to Federated Press for
aid in answering the campaign of
falsehoods.
Through Taxi Weekly, a paper ap-
pealing to the drivers and particular
ly to independent cab owners who are
most harassed by the present police
and newspaper offensive, some gross
errors are disproved. The newspaper
statements from police records are
given better proportion when the
weekly shows that the thousand hack
ordinance violations covered a three
month period, $4,000 cabs and $4,000
drivers and 100000 riders. The
newspaper emphasis gives the false
impression that the majority of taxi.
cab drivers are criminals instead of
being hard working men-and a few
women.
Hard Work.
Taxi drivers confirm the champion.
ing weekly's statement that, "The gen.
eral public is not. aware of the strug-
gle that the average taAicab driver
must make in order to get living
from his job :. After hours of driving
in near zero weather, the strain coup
led with the cold, becomes unbear.
able" Taxi men suffer from colds
frozen feet and hands, constipation
and other health difficulties from their
jobs.
Facts favorable to taxi drivers are
ignored by the attacking newspapers
Only one driver was found charged
with robbing a passenger, but the
papers never mentioned that as many
as so holdups of taxi men have been
reported in one week. Drivers are
robbed of earnings and Of their cabs
One driver, Samuel Kitzman, was kill
ed when he refused to help two rob
bers escape. Other cabmen are col
lecting a fund for his widow and chill
dren while attacking newspapers rear
their return in anti-union Yellow Cab
corporation advertising.
Taxi drivers complain that police
regulations force them to accept any
fare if they slow up, indicating that
no previous call has preference. The
driver cannot be sure that he is not
getting drunken and abusive custom.
err or perhaps a criminal one. The
driver has to post a card giving his
number and photo so that he can
easily be reported by any customer
or framed-up. If this card is lost or
stolen, the driver forfeits his right to
work for 10 days.
Must Bride Cops.
Taxi drivers want the licensing de-
partment made independent of police
control again. At present, they claim,
every patrolman can act as inspector
and demand his bit of graft on pain of
reporting the driver for a petty or
imagined offense. Reporting means
license-suspension and inability to
earn a living for the time; so that
drivers give the patrolman ride and
slip something soothing into his hand,
they confess.
Individual cab owners have two or
CARNATIONS, the Amalgamated Taxi
Association (the larger) and Independ-
ent Taxi Owners Association, which
takes in drivers hired by others, furn-
ishes legal. advice and insurance, but
there is no active union Of cabmen.
Local SAB, Taxi and Limousine Chauf-
feurs Union, whose head was also in
charge of the funeral drivers union,
has done little to organize cab drivers
since police broke up its meeting last
vaar