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NY Taxi Workers Alliance

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NY Taxi Workers Alliance

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New Address: 31-10 37th Avenue Suite 300, Long Island City, NY 11101. New Phone: 718-70-NYTWA (718-706-9892)
(293)

Founded in 1998, NYTWA is the 28,000+ member strong union of NYC professional drivers, uniting drivers of yellow cabs, green cars, black cars & app-dispached Phone: 718-706-9892

10/14/2026

A spokesman for the governor confirmed that Hochul had received the letter.

“Governor Hochul values the work that taxi and for-hire vehicle drivers perform every day,” Sean Butler told the Daily News. “We have received the letter and will review the proposal.”

Full article:

In a rare alliance, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, rideshare giant Uber, and medallion-owning hedge fund Marblegate are all calling on the governor and the mayor to back a plan that would create of a health and wellness fund for taxicab drivers by shifting a fare surcharge away from the MTA.

The plan also calls for a law to expand the health benefits covered by the Black Car Fund, for which Uber, Lyft, livery and black car drivers are eligible.

“All yellow cab, Uber, Lyft and livery drivers should be ensured basic benefits such as temporary disability and other paid time-off, health benefits, including vision, dental and hearing plans, and the ability to retire with dignity,” reads a joint letter sent last Friday to Gov. Hochul and Mayor Mamdani.

The letter is signed by NYTWA head Bhairavi Desai, Uber senior director Josh Gold and Marblegate CEO Andrew Milgram.

“We jointly call on you, Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani, to use your respective authority to establish a health and wellness fund for yellow taxi drivers, sustainably finance the fund by reallocating the $0.50 MTA surcharge that drivers already collect and turn over on each fare, and enact legislation to expand the Black Car Fund and Livery Fund to create comparable benefits for livery and app drivers,” the letter continues.

The show of support for a taxi-driver health fund comes after a brutal summer in which four taxi drivers died on the job.

All four were dealing with ongoing medical struggles, Desai told the Daily News Tuesday, and were unable to take time off.

Babacar Dem had been undergoing dialysis three times a week while also driving a cab. He was found dead in August after taking a bathroom break, Gothamist reported.

The NYTWA said cabbie Richard Coulibaly had been in and out of the hospital with cardiac issues when he died in his parked cab in July in the midst of a heat wave.

Jagjit Singh was found dead in his cab in early September after dropping off a fare, apparently after suffering a heart attack.

Driver Khalifa Siwa was found dead in his cab with an insulin pen in his hand, the taxi workers union said.

The NYTWA’s proposal would pay for a separate taxicab health fund by re-allocating the 50-cent surcharge on cab fares that has gone to the MTA since 2009.

That surcharge, part of a recession-era effort to reduce a then-looming MTA fare hike, goes to the transit agency by law. The law allows the money to be used for whatever budgetary purposes the agency sees fit. Any effort to redirect the funds would require an act of state government.

Data from the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission show roughly 47.9 million taxi trips were made last year. According to the MTA, the surcharge generated $22 million in 2025.
Desai said Tuesday that such a figure “can provide substantial revenue for a (health) fund.”
“It’s clearly deficient for the MTA,” she added.

A spokesman for the governor confirmed that Hochul had received the letter.

“Governor Hochul values the work that taxi and for-hire vehicle drivers perform every day,” Sean Butler told the Daily News. “We have received the letter and will review the proposal.”

10/14/2026

Amid on-the-job deaths, Taxi Workers Alliance calls on state to fund driver health benefits

10/13/2026

BREAKING: Uber & Marblegate back NYTWA’s health and wellness plan and jointly call on Governor Kathy Hochul & Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani to take urgent action after 4 yellow taxi drivers died on the job.

For the first time ever, NYTWA, Uber, and Marblegate are on the same side of an issue, working together to win NYTWA’s plan!

NYTWA’s comprehensive health and wellness agenda for NYC yellow taxi, Uber, Lyft, and livery drivers includes temporary state disability and other paid time off and a first-ever retirement plan.

Over the past 13 years, NYTWA and Uber have never had a joint public agreement on any issue.

In fact, Uber has fought against NYTWA’s Uber and Lyft driver organizing on NYC’s vehicle cap, minimum pay, NYS unemployment, just cause, driver lockouts, and wage theft.

But NYTWA won Uber’s endorsement for the union’s health and wellness plan - and implicit agreement that the revenue should go toward driver wellbeing not to the companies - without making any compromises.

09/30/2026

Today: 11AM to 11PM*! NYTWA office is open 11AM to 11PM to help members get your LOSS RUN REPORT so we can apply for a license for a driver-owned insurance co-op! Come by anytime and call us if you can't find parking! Bring your FH1 insurance paper and DMV license.

NEW YORK TAXI WORKERS ALLIANCE
📌 31-10 37th Avenue, Suite 300, LIC, NY 11101

📱 718-706-9892

📻 At 11:30AM: Tune in to 99.5 FM WBAI to hear about NYTWA's campaign for benefits on the job for all TLC drivers!

We need the yellow cab $0.50 MTA tax to be redistributed toward a wellness fund for yellow cab drivers to provide disability, paid sick and family leave, term life insurance, retirement, and more. We also need the BCF and Livery Fund to expand benefits to include disability, term life, and make the supplemental benefits automatic!

Driver Power! Union Power!

09/28/2026

The deaths of four New York City cab drivers on the job over the summer have further shaken a workforce that’s been devastated by the rapid rise of app-based car services like Uber and Lyft over the last decade.

The tragedies have prompted renewed questions about the viability of New York City’s once iconic yellow taxi business, where many drivers struggle to make weekly payments on their cabs. https://gothamist.visitlink.me/5amaTZ

09/28/2026

DRIVERS DEMAND JOB BENEFITS Paid Time-off (Disability, Sick Leave, Family Leave) + Life Insurance + Retirement + HIGHER PAY/LOWER COSTS!

BREAKING NEWS: In light of the recent tragedy of four of our brothers found dead in their taxis over the past three months, NYTWA submitted a comprehensive health and wellness plan to Deputy Mayor Julie Su and TLC Commissioner Midori Valdivia. Fundamentally, drivers need to earn more so they can work fewer hours with less stress, and have time off to rest and take care of their health, as well as retire with dignity. Our proposals are achievable immediately if city hall shows us the commitment our members need.

Check out today’s exclusive in the New York Times.

Join Zoom meeting 8PM tonight, Monday September 28th, for updates, decisions and planning. Link in comments!

NYTWA Driver Power Health and Wellness Demands!

📢Establish fund for yellow cab drivers with benefits funded by revenue from the 50c MTA tax; and require existing Black Car Fund and Livery Fund to expand benefits to include:

1. NYS Disability for when drivers are injured off-duty or are sick from an illness
2. Supplemental Disability and Workers Compensation to add compensation (money) on top of the state minimum
3. Term Life and Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurances so our dependents have security in case of our death
4. NYS Paid Safe, Sick and Family Leave so we can take care of ourselves before we fall ill, and take care of our families.
5. Retirement Plan so drivers can retire with dignity. City must immediately assess the needs of active senior drivers for groceries, housing and healthcare.
6. Health care: Vision, Dental, Hearing, Mental Health Services for drivers and dependents
7. Nurses Station and Exercise Kiosks at JFK taxi and FHV lots for stretching and strengthening
8. Public restrooms at taxi/FHV stands
9. Prevailing Wage and Trips Guarantee Study and comprehensive economic reform so that drivers have a wage standard that reflects the uniqueness of their daily overtime, dangerous conditions, and high expenses on the job.
10. Address drivers’ operating expenses & affordability crisis, including by supporting the formation of our insurance co-operative, and auditing TLC fines, fees, and penalties so that they are proportional to driver earnings.
11. Prioritize affordable housing for drivers and retirees.
12. State and City Support for drivers' shared expenses and insurance co-op so drivers can save on expenses.

Drivers need paid time-off, economic security and access to care to allow us to take care of ourselves.* Out of over 100,000 drivers who work daily to serve close to one million passengers a day in the richest taxi and FHV industry in the country: Only some drivers have workers comp if injured on the job – and even then, the amount averages less than $200/week. The majority of drivers don’t have temporary state Disability Insurance in case they miss work due to an off-duty injury or illness. No driver has retirement. Even if insured, most drivers can’t take time off to go to a doctor – we need to bring the care to where the drivers work.

Join TONIGHT AT 8PM the NYTWA meeting on Zoom for campaign discussion and updates.

09/25/2026

💪 In an incredible show of force, NYS Attorney General, 11 labor unions and legal service and civil rights organizations, and four professors of constitutional, labor and contract law, along with NYTWA, filed Amicus briefs in federal court in support of the City of New York's appeal of a misguided injunction that put Local Law 52 on hold, leaving thousands of drivers without protections against unfair firings (deactivations) by Uber and Lyft, without notice, an independent appeal or just cause reasoning.

🔊 New York State Attorney General Letitia James argues in her Amicus that Local Law 52 builds on New York State's long history of protecting workers in specific sectors and that the court's ruling granting Uber and Lyft an injunction threatens the power of the city and state to enact sector-specific labor laws.

🔊 Legal Aid Society and Legal Services New York argue in their Amicus (which Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Latino Justice PRLDEF (Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund), Mobilization for Justice, National Employment Lawyers Association NY, and New York Legal Assistance Group signed onto) that Uber and Lyft's business model creates economic precarity for drivers that merits city regulation and that the corporations' arbitrary deactivations of drivers causes harm.

🔊 In the Amicus Brief filed by NYTWA, Alliance for a Greater New York, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Region 9A of United Auto Workers, and Worker Justice Project we argue that wrongful and arbitrary deactivations devastate drivers, who are fired without adequate notice and no meaningful appeal process and that Local Law 52 will likely make NYC safer. The NYTWA brief also explains how Local Law 52 is just further progress on laws that already limit companies from firing workers such as anti-retaliation measures.

🔊 Professors Veena Dubal, Jennifer Gordon, Chaumtoli Huq and Zephyr Teachout (represented by American Economic Liberties Project) argue in their Amicus that Local Law 52 constitutes routine worker protection legislation and is also similar to many existing laws restricting the termination and cancellation of economic relationships. Further, the court's interpretation of the Contract Clause of the U.S. constitution would produce absurd and dangerous results and would lead to judicial micromanaging of the state’s core legislative function of economic regulation.

Our fight is long from over, but today drivers are feeling the solidarity of Attorney General Letitia James and our allies who joined us in standing up to corporations who seek to dominate workers and leave them in utter ruin. We won't allow Uber and Lyft to use their corporate influence to block the just cause protections that drivers need to survive.

The Judge's ruling is dangerous to the rights of all workers, and that's why a broad coalition of unions, legal service advocates and the attorney general are united to see it overturned.

List of all the amicus filers, along with New York Taxi Workers Alliance

1. NYS Attorney General Letitia James
2. The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
3. Latino Justice PRLDEF
4. The Legal Aid Society
5. Legal Services NYC (LSNYC)
6. Mobilization for Justice (MFJ)
7. NELA/NY is the New York affiliate of the National Employment Lawyers
Association (“NELA”)
8. The New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG)
9. ALIGN: the Alliance for a Greater New York
10. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters
11. Worker's Justice Project (“WJP”)
12. Region 9A of the International Union of the United Automobile, Aerospace
and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (“UAW”)
13. Professor Veena Dubal (U.C. Irvine),
14. Professor Jennifer Gordon (Fordham Univ.),
15. Professor Chaumtoli Huq (City Univ. of New York), and
16. Professor Zephyr Teachout (Fordham Univ.)

DRIVER POWER! UNION POWER!

09/18/2026

We honor our fallen brothers in the struggle. Join us in the fight for what drivers need to live long healthy lives.

More trips, higher pay, lower costs, a retirement plan, a health fund, nurses stations, exercise kiosks, paid sick days, disability, and life insurance!

Enough is enough!

Comprehensive economic and health reform now!

09/17/2026

We are outraged and shocked. Today's TLC hearing started with a moment of silence for our three brothers found dead in their taxis in the last three months, and a heartfelt tribute by Commissioner Valdivia.

But it ended with Queens Commissioner Paul Bader - a former cab driver himself - using his one vote to block a desperately-needed relief package for drivers. The package would save drivers $1M in fines, including for violations for which the TLC already imposes license suspensions, following Mayor Mamdani's order to reduce overly punitive fines on New Yorkers. Significantly, it would also improve the lifesaving Medallion Relief Program - which we won by going on hunger strike - by allowing owner-drivers to leave their medallions with a city-backed guarantee to family members in case of death or retirement.

Commissioner Bader absurdly claimed that repealing a $25 fine sent the wrong message to drivers because it would mean they wouldn't suffer financial consequences for something as trivial as misplacing a license. So he callously voted down the entire relief package, blocking the TLC from implementing it even though the other 4 commissioners present voted in favor.

This was a cynical betrayal of the 180,000 New Yorkers who support their families as TLC drivers and who are already in the midst of a financial crisis. At a time when our brothers are literally working themselves to death, Commissioner Bader's vote was heartless political maneuvering. And apparently he thinks we're gullible because sprinkled in the grandstanding was a message about how drivers need more. Of course we do! How can we trust you to fight for more for us when you vote down important progress - just to teach us a lesson over $25!

The only "principles" Bader displayed were a disdain for workers and a complete lack of empathy.

Ultimately, we know we will prevail. Along with these rules, we need a full board of commissioners at the TLC that won't play politics with the lives of drivers or stab us in the back.

09/16/2026

To our fallen brothers Jagjit Singh, Khalifa Siwa, Richard Coulibaly and the entire driver community:

We won’t rest until we win the comprehensive economic and health reform that will allow drivers to live long dignified lives.

To live healthy and work less hours drivers need more trips, higher pay, lower costs and a retirement program!

A health fund, nurses stations, exercise kiosks, paid sick days for all drivers, disability insurance so you can take off when ill or injured off-duty and term life insurance so we have security for our families.

We will continue to grieve you dear brothers and fight like hell for the living.

Drivers serve the world. We serve the drivers.

Driver Power! Union Power!

Address

31-10 37th Avenue, Ste 300
Long Island City, NY
11101

Opening Hours

Monday	11am - 7pm
Tuesday	11am - 7pm
Wednesday	11am - 7pm
Thursday	11am - 7pm
Friday	11am - 4pm

Telephone

+17187069892

Website

http://www.nytwa.org/

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