SUPPORT TAXI DRIVERS' RIGHT TO PRIVACY

SUPPORT TAXI DRIVERS' RIGHT TO PRIVACY

Dear Mayor Michael Bloomberg,

We are the Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum, a community based o rganization which stands up for workers rights, civil liberties and constitutional rights for all immigrants. We support taxi drivers who are mostly immigrants. We cherish the First Amendment to the Constitution which is unique in the world. We respect you, Mayor Bloomberg, because you try to reach out to the people of New York. Your administration stands out from the heavy-handed Giulliani regime when you listen to the people. Rudy Giulliani provoked the historic taxi strike of 1998 with his attitude of "my way or the highway".

GPS threatens the independence and privacy of all cab drivers. Matt Daus who was appointed Chairman of the Taxi and Limousine Commission by Rudy Giulliani is provoking another taxi strike by imposing GPS and credit card technology on the cab drivers of New York City. Daus is living in the past and behaving like his old boss Giulliani. He has no interest in civility. He cares more about corporate profits and machines than people. Despite claims that driver privacy is protected, owners will be able to access tracking data and provide information on drivers to the TLC. 85 per cent of drivers take their cabs home and GPS will track every movement. Drivers will lose all independence and privacy. There will be a transaction fee and when the technology fails to work the drivers will have to pay in lost time. The TLC claims that the new technology will aid customers who lose valuables in the cab. They do not tell the public that a very effective system for claiming lost valuables is currently operating.

The drivers love the people of New York City. Cab drivers are working very hard to support their families and at the same time are very proud to serve New York City. Drivers carry senior citizens and pregnant mothers in emergencies, get children safely to school and support the entertainment industry to name only a few vital services. Drivers do not want to burden New York with a strike. They have often been disrespected by the police, the TLC courts and the Giulliani administration which provoked the strike in 1998. The NYC taxi fare is officially the lowest in the nation.

*Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum President Dr. Muhammad Shafique* is hoping that you will intervene to prevent a strike in this situation which will cost the city a billion dollars and a lot of trouble for the common people. Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum requests that you ask Chairman Daus to postpone the implementation of GPS on October 1st. In the interest of the public don't allow the process to get bogged down in legal rhetoric. We want to have an open public hearing with elected public officials present. The drivers have no representation as independent contractors. The drivers want to do what is best for the city. We want the city to do what is best for the drivers.

Thank you for consideration,
Mr. Shahid Comrade
Secretary General
(917) 280-0840

posted 8/15/2007