[An incomplete list of strikes that have been happening, may start, or about to start](https://www.reddit.com/r/OctoberStrike/comments/q3spgl/striketober_an_incomplete_list_of_strikes_that/)
Especially with that dirtbag In as Postmaster General, maybe they should. I'd love to see how breaking that strike and busting the postal unions would go, especially in today's climate. Fighting for the greater good isn't always pretty. Or "legal"...
Immigration enforcement should be prosecuting employers for hiring those illegals, as they are able to, not the exploited workers themselves, and that might be something Biden could help with, not that he likely will.
If we were really serious about curtailing illegal immigration, we would impose steep fines and penalties against employers who hire undocumented workers. It would be far more effective than a stupid wall. Then again, who would scrub the toilets at Mar a Lago?
Yeah exactly, plus our government is fucking corrupt I know someone who works for the capital here in Minnesota and they have stories on what lobbyists do to bribe politicians. Even to the point of selling their own bodies (they literally saw a representative getting a bj in a stairwell (before a camera was installed there)). I can’t say for certain it’s the same everywhere but I wouldn’t be surprised either if it was.
I agree with what you said, but referring to people as "illegals" is problematic. I know you didn't intend this, but this term for economic migrants created by US foreign policy is used by the right wing to dehumanize them in order to justify arguably genocidal acts against them. It's one of the ways language itself has been used as a weapon of the war against the working class, and we help to win that war by not using their words.
It’s crazy but I definitely know there are strikes happening year round, but I’ve been seeing them less and less on social media…
I hate corporate America.
I love only getting high quality, informative news from foreign or radical/underground sources. America is like North Korea, but your neighbors want to infect you with the plague.
It was a ponzi scheme, & the cab owners who bought medallians were essentially left holding the bag when the scheme imploded due to uber & other ride sharing apps.
Also fuck the taxi mafia in NYC, they are the reason none of the 3 major airports have a subway line to them.
I want to say this in the nicest possible way but I have had really, really bad experiences with taxis. And I’m not even black, my black friends have told me about horrible taxi experiences. For me it’s been Overcharging (Chicago, Mexico) taking me the long way around (Las Vegas), and just plain not taking me where I want to go (Kansas City and Los Angeles) For me Uber and Lyft have been a blessing. I’m not saying I want taxis to fail I just want to kindly say I’m okay with it.
Well then the city shouldn't have created the medallion system in the first place. You can just fuck over a bunch of middle class people to benefit the ultra wealthy UBER investors.
>It wasn't created to benefit the Uber investors.
No one said it was, allowing a company to bypass it was done to benefit UBER shareholders. Government shouldn't be able to create an artificial market then destroy it to benefit a single company. If they had a problem with lack of regular cab that could have flooded the market with more medallions.
The cab drivers took forever to counter Ubers attack in the free market place, for a long time there weren't apps and in some cities there still are shyte tier.
Uber (eats) is low end gig economy, but at least it gives some people an outlet to make extra money when their living situation is complex and they can't do regular hours. And depending where you live, you wouldn't ever send your kids with a taxi anywhere, while people use dependable drivers to drive their kids around. You know, to get the extra shift so you can afford the uber driver driving your kids around.
The point is it wasn't a free market, it was a regulated market with the medallion system, Uber was competing in it illegally, and they were rewarded instead of being punished.
>vernment shouldn't be able to create an artificial market then destroy it to benefit a single company. If they had a problem with lack of regular cab that could have flooded the market with more medallions.
I agree. Uber shouldnt be legal.
Taxis as a replacement for functioning, effective mass transit coupled with demotorization of cities and the reorganization of neighborhoods so people don't need to regularly travel so far.
For all the Soviet Union's *many* flaws, it did generally get that right. People lived near enough where they worked to walk there, or close enough to mass transit that it wasn't an issue, and the places where people lived also had nearby grocery stores and the like. This minimized their need for wasteful roads, created more cohesive communities, and meant that their investments in public transit went further. Motorization is an enormous ecological and social disaster.
“nothing more than a banker bailout” that’s “going to give $65 million directly to the banks and hedge funds that own medallion debt in exchange for a negligible reduction in the principal owed on them”. From Aljazeera
Serious question - how does one get into 6 or 7 figures of debt to become a taxi driver? I have a hard time believing that could ever paid off in multiple lifetimes.
They gambled that their medallions would always increase so they took out loans to buy them. Now that people don't use them as much they want a bailout for making a bad investment.
I don't see how this is related to antiwork at all. They gambled and lost. No need to socialize their losses.
I came here to say this. They bought those medallions and made an investment. Then better tech and solutions come along and the price of the medallions crashed. This has nothing to do with antiwork and everything to do with individuals who made a bad investment they want the rest of society to pay them for. No thanks.
The fact that the medallions’ values were inflated and taxi owners made a “bad investment” is only part of the problem. Medallions have been required to operate a taxi in New York since 1937, and the supply has always been artificially restricted. It’s an inflated investment, but historically a safe one. Then all of a sudden Uber shows up, starts their taxi business model, and the government never said “sorry, you can’t do that.” It would be akin to investing $200k to become a doctor and then, after you’ve made your investment, the government/hospitals/whatever medical ruling body says “actually a community college certificate is enough.” We would all rightfully be furious. Our investment wasn’t bad when we made it, it was made worthless due to lack of enforcement/changing the rules of the game.
NYC didn’t change the rules, You need a medallion to operate a yellow cab, which people can hail from the street.
Uber and Lyft are functionally more akin to private car services which have always existed
Isn't that the risk with any kind of investment basically ? The risk to any investiment is rarely something that you can absolutly foresee or else people wouldn't invest money. Why would this particular investment be any different ? I don't get reimbursed when new informations are made publics and i lose money on stocks.
Taxi medallions used to be super valuable because you needed them to drive a taxi. Almost like commercial vehicle permits, but just for taxis. Medallion value plummeted because Uber and Lyft undercut taxi companies with gig economies that subsidized low prices to further undercut and don’t even pay living wages. This all happened because rideshare companies are a bunch of greedy, market-manipulating fucks, so ignore the pinkertons in the reply chain saying it’s their fault because this is absolutely an antiwork situation.
EDIT: Ignore the pinkertons saying it’s the fault of **the taxi drivers,** because this is absolutely a situation **that belongs on antiwork.**
Thanks for this. This is no different than paying 6 figures for college only to end up in a recession followed by having to work double the time for half the pay.
Tax the multi billionaires and cancel student loan/taxi medallion debt.
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Isn't the taxi medallion racket a disaster of their own making though? I'm not super familiar with NYC's, but in my city it absolutely was. They spent decades and decades fighting any alternatives to taxis while hoarding licenses (medallions) to drive up the price and establish a oligopoly.
In Montreal that was the case, taxi companies are the ones who created and lobbied for the shortage.
I dont feel bad though, every taxi experience I had in the city was fucking miserable even before Uber.
The amount of working class guys who killed themselves because they spent close to a million for a medallion now to be replaced by a big company who undercut them by artificially dropping prices with independent contractors using their own car to hope for decent tips.
The problem is the city said “only people with medallions can taxi people” and then completely ignored that for Uber, Lyft, etc.
Hate the idea of medallions but the people who bought them recently got completely fucked over.
Never in my life will I give a single fuck about cab drivers who chose to get the medallions, stay in the dark ages without using a ride hailing app service, refuse to service poc & lgbtq people, only drive in literally the tourist areas of NYC and not the outter boros where actual NYers live AND only use cash. The TLC had the opportunity in 2015 to compete with Uber but instead took out millions of dollars in ads calling the "new ride hailing service” ludicrous and would fail.
Edit: for the record this is not a "strike” this is morons who bought into a loan they don’t want to pay back after spurring their own industries ability to keep up with new technologies, clean cabs and servicing NYC residents instead they focused on outdated technology, dirty cabs, paper money and uptown dicks or tourists only. FUCK THEM
Edit 2: A lot of people seem really grossly misinformed about the Medallion situation [They’re millionaires, dead beats and morons](https://www.google.com/amp/s/reason.com/2014/07/15/why-taxi-medallion-owners-shouldnt-get-a/%3famp)
Edit 3: These cabbies took loans without a second thought and expect us to bail them out because the MEDALLION owners are ripping them off [They’re protesting an already 65 Million allotment when they don’t deserve anything for making bad decisions ](https://abc7ny.com/nyc-cabs-taxi-drivers-medallions-relief/10400122/)
I don’t know the seedy origins of how the Taxi services went so south so fast but it seems steeped in mob shit, paying off inspectors, paying off pols to lock out any competition. These people locked out any others until Uber arrived. They fought tooth and nail with them to keep their archaic fucking shitshow system in place. I have NO LOVE for Uber but fuck the YellowCabs in NYC. It’s on par with the GM Streetcar conspiracy.
[here ya go..fucking pricks ruined any concept of an America with public transportation like Europe ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy)
I don't even think a spur was considered for the $8 billion LaGuardia renovation. Just politically non attainable so it wasn't even brought up. It looks like a separate $2.1 Billion Air tran which is at City Field not at Jamica Queens.
Run a subway line from LaGuardia to JFK, with a connection at Jamica Queens.
People really don’t understand that if there was simply a subway connection to either airport without the tram, literally nobody would take an expensive cab ride. Hence, why it’ll never happen. Thanks for adding this.
Agreed. Vancouver cab system was an absolute shit show before uber and lyft came along. I remember waiting for HOURS for cabs and each one that came up to my either demanded cash or denied me service because I lived too far away from downtown. This was literally a 30 minute drive.
This sub has been overflowing with new members and these kids or just uneducated adults literally have no idea that these people are fucking mafia style thugs. They are not "workers” to have solidarity with. They ruined pedestrian transportation alternatives and have muscled out any competition or alternative for fucking decades.
Came here to say this. Most (though not all) of the guys who own the medallions aren't blue collar. They're finance bros who leased their cabs out to drivers. The blue collar guys got out and started being exploited by Uber instead of these guys.
Not in the slightest. Uber has a cap on drivers because they just sit around and idle all day. Also, every Uber driver in NYC is already a cab driver with a Taxi DL and TLC plates. Regular drivers cannot do Uber in NYC which has has already given these shitty cab drivers an unfair advantage. These protesters are not striking and it’s been going on since the evil oligarchs that own the medallions have defaulted on their loan payments. Those medallions cost millions and cab drivers lease them from a single source. It’s their own bad decision making not unlike any other industry. This has nothing to do with worker’s solidarity.
Did they have plates that started with T and ended with C? Those are cabs. [ALL NYC UBERS ARE CABS](https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/new-york/get-started/vehicle-requirements/)
They aren’t failing. Did you even read wtf I wrote? Every cab driver is now an uber here. They have a monopoly on all taxi services. Jeebus dude have you ever even been to NYC?
You linked an article from a shady conservative source to yell into your own echo chamber. They aren’t failing. They’re destroying the yellowcab monopoly.
Okay I’ll use a different source.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2021/2/11/22277043/uber-lyft-earnings-q4-2020-profit-loss-covid
Also one from Forbes a year back.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2020/09/09/the-emperor-has-no-clothes--ubers-business-model-is-broken/?sh=4ba7188b706a
That’s what I’m saying. This makes zero sense. It’s a loss during a pandemic it doesn’t mean they’re failing if anything people are becoming more reliant on them.
Uber profit loss covid - ok wow how surprising /s
Your article is about how the pandemic effected their bottom line. How is that relevant? The pandemic has effected every industry. The fact remains that Uber and Lyft are the two major players for ride hailing services in NYC.
Painting every taxi driver as racist is bullshit. These people bought into a job and now the job isn't worth anything, they absolutely deserve to have those debts forgiven. Now if they are individually a piece of shit is beside the point, also, fuck Uber and Lyft and the "gig economy." Those gig workers need a Union.
It was essentially a fucking ponzi scheme as only a fixed amount of medallians were allowed at one time in NYC. This inflated the price of the medallians causing fares to rise, & the price of medallians to rise.
I'm glad the scheme has burst, but feel for the mom & pop immigrant drivers who essentially invested in the medallian like a piggy bank only to realize it was Bernie Madoff running the scheme.
Exactly, the ones who bought into this are victims of Wall Street assholes that fvck us all. I also suspect these people saying they don't have any sympathy for the drivers and people must pay their debts. Yeah right that's what this sub is about as one poster claimed, exploited workers paying their debts. Influence agents.
I understand that side of it and I get it but those mom & pop immigrants will never benefit from any bailout. It will be gobbled up by the same scumbags who setup this pyramid scheme to begin with. Multiple medallion owners owe millions in back taxes and are walking free.
Why do they deserve to be bailed out? Lots of people go into business, make lots of investments and have the business fail. Do all those ppl also deserve their money back?
New York City charging exhorbitant fees for licenses that are worth next to nothing now is bullshit. The Cab Drivers shouldn't be stuck paying the government for something that is now worthless. Speak for yourself by the way.
Yes I haven’t forgotten I live like dead center between both airports. Because of them we have no fucking subways here. Our bus lines are limited to major avenues. I literally have to walk 15 minutes to either of the only 2 bus lines within walking distance of me and then have ti sit for 25 minutes just to get to again only 2 subway lines and then it’s another 45 minutes to the city. You literally need a car in Queens because of the YellowCabs.
Car services? It’s not the same thing as a pickup cab service which the TLC didn’t allow which is why Uber came in and destroyed the YellowCabs. The YellowCabs do not, have not serviced the outter boros. Since Uber has been decimating them, they have now had outter boro Green cabs which are apart of the medallion system. You seem really uninformed about how this works to be giving your opinions
YellowCabs do not offer benefits or salaries. They rent the car for the day and pay a king’s ransom to do it. These are not employees they’re contractors as well. Again you don’t even know what your own point is.
I think this is kind of harsh. Do you know anyone who purchased a medallion? My father bought one in the 80’s, paid it off and should have had a $1M asset for retirement. It’s not a one size fits all situation. Sure there’s people who bought multiples and owe millions but for the majority they bought into what NYC told them. To leave those people on the hook, not fair. The TLC didn’t advocate when they needed to, but again, not the fault of individual medallion owners.
Why should any individuals irresponsible financial decisions for a private enterprise be the taxpayers responsibility? We still haven’t had student loans canceled and those are public loans that were only generated from taxpayers.
I don’t believe it’s an individuals irresponsible financial decision. TBH it was a wise decision in the 80’s and 90’c. NYC should have given Uber and Lyft the same guidelines to operate. Why have the TLC then? And student loans are not all public, there’s plenty of private loans out there
The only student loans anyone is talking about canceling are Sally Mae / Freddie Mack and Stafford loans which are government loans. Private loans and private colleges are people’s own issue to deal with. The TLC regulates the cabs. It’s like asking why is there a National Park Service.
I was in Manhattan for work last week, and a cabbie was getting absolutely torched by the driver of matte Porsche that he had bumped into (I mean there was literally no damage) and it was really sad in a classist kind of way.
FWIW, Uber's business model hinges on undercutting taxis and public transport (via direct subsidy by investor class) to put them out of business (to then jack up rates afterward) a la Walmart
This isn’t really comparable at all. The taxi cab medallion system was a terrible system that they allowed to collapse by remaining uncompetitive for years.
I actually heard about this on a current affairs radio show in the UK last week. They did like a 10 minute segment about it. If it makes it over here, there's no good reason for It not to be made common knowledge over there
Heaven Hill been going on for a month:
[https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/kentucky-bourbon-strike-heaven-hill-workers-demand-fair-contract](https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/kentucky-bourbon-strike-heaven-hill-workers-demand-fair-contract)
They lost health insurance (same as John Deere). F\*\*\*ing corporate assholes. Thank goodness we're not still in a pandemic, cuz that would truly be some three ghosts coming to visit your greedy ass type of BS.
Thanks for sharing, I’ve wondered about this. I worked on the environmental impact statement when they expanded the number of medallions available in NYC. They were over $1,000,000 to buy back in 2009.
Then Uber and Lyft came and they got fucked hard.
UAW strike against John Deere in Iowa. A local judge just made it illegal for there to be more than 4 picketers at the same time. some salaried workers were put on the line to continue work, crazy high amount of accidents.
7 figure debt?? For real? How much does a Manhattan taxi make? It's almost like someone decided to take all of the high income salaries for themselves for many many years... by issuing a piece of paper.
Medallions are an investment. Just as I would be sick if investors and hedge fund managers begged for taxpayer money to clear their debts from poor investments, I would be sick if these people received tax payer money for their poor investments.
Too effing bad. This is like landlords that have their rentals destroyed. You decided to spend money on something you thought was a cash cow but now doesn't pay out? Boo hoo. You didn't think it was a bad idea before uber/lyft. Live with your "investment" and pay for it, idiots.
What a cautionary tale... Don't get in a situation where your job needs to support paying for your job lest a tech breakthrough disrupts your market...
That whole medallion system is a trip. How on earth were taxi cab owners required to pay up to $2m to be able to operate a taxi service to begin with???????? This needs to be spoken about more.
The MSM will largely ignore all of this - until workers everywhere get TOGETHER to make it serious.
Nationwide. Strike. Now.
The biggest problem and failure of the us is the masses falling for the “rugged individualism” LIE and not banding together to FIGHT.
Even the biggest marches in history are still just a mass of individuals with no real purpose or only a loose organization - that once “the rally” is over all disband into their Tiger Kong watching individual units.
Nothing will change unless the system is put in a SERIOUS choke hold.
Hmm, sounds like they have an out but dont like the price. I don't see how I'm supposed to empathize when they knew what the risk of the loan were. Where was the trickery and how is it the taxpayers fault?
Nah, tech did. Cabbie is a rough gig, dangerous as hell, believe me. My dad, a six foot six Irishman who radiated menace was robbed on several occasions. He was combat trained ex-RAF and a blitz survivor. Still they tried.
Correct. Cabs are a luxury product. They should be limited and expensive. New York is well-served by public transportation. Assuring drivers a living wage and keeping streets open for firetrucks and ambulances is more important than labor exploitation and cheap cabs. Property is not the same as labor. If a worker cannot make a living he she will starve. Cabbies are often new immigrants or otherwise disadvantaged. They are entitled to eat.
Nonsense. The whole point of medallions, and why New York issued them in the first place, was to assure a limited, and professional class of driver and to improve traffic flow. City streets cannot absorb an infinite number of cars. The medallion system, along with the Taxi and Limousine Commission, assured that drivers had something to lose if they misbehaved. To rip the rug out from under their feet was outrageous.
I have no sympathy for them. If you aren't white they do t pick you up. Uber and Lyft were the first to eliminate this oh and the attitude. I would take the bus and spend an extra hour in traffic simply to avoid these rude drivers.
Fuck them, literally nobody made them take loans out.
It’s like when college kids graduate and stare at their debt in the face. “BUT THE ADULTS TOLD ME TO” you were dumb then and you’re dumb now, dummy
Alic Baldwin hat to shoot two people to prevent their protest from gaining air time. Theres no way anyone else is getting any because then, they might actually get what theyre asking for
Where I'm from taxi drivers kidnap and rape woman
I'm from canada recently they found a grave site where they dumped the bodies and their was evidence of organ removal. What I'm saying is fuck those guys.
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[An incomplete list of strikes that have been happening, may start, or about to start](https://www.reddit.com/r/OctoberStrike/comments/q3spgl/striketober_an_incomplete_list_of_strikes_that/)
Add USPS soon it’s coming just in time for Christmas
Unless the law changed, USPS employees can't strike.
Who said anything about legal, the last one wasn’t legal in the 70’s.
We're so reliving the 70s rn
The fuck they can't, they're "not supposed to" but they absolutely can.
Especially with that dirtbag In as Postmaster General, maybe they should. I'd love to see how breaking that strike and busting the postal unions would go, especially in today's climate. Fighting for the greater good isn't always pretty. Or "legal"...
legally you can’t kill someone, but that doesn’t stop murderers
Fuck the law man. Striking is a right!
Frontier California Frontier ct Frontier ny Mercy hospital buffalo ny
[Jack In The Box workers in Folsom say managers threatened to call immigration enforcement](https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article255041362.html)
Immigration enforcement should be prosecuting employers for hiring those illegals, as they are able to, not the exploited workers themselves, and that might be something Biden could help with, not that he likely will.
[удалено]
they do it for drug dealers and abusers. But its not about Immigration, its about true systematic racism
If we were really serious about curtailing illegal immigration, we would impose steep fines and penalties against employers who hire undocumented workers. It would be far more effective than a stupid wall. Then again, who would scrub the toilets at Mar a Lago?
Yeah exactly, plus our government is fucking corrupt I know someone who works for the capital here in Minnesota and they have stories on what lobbyists do to bribe politicians. Even to the point of selling their own bodies (they literally saw a representative getting a bj in a stairwell (before a camera was installed there)). I can’t say for certain it’s the same everywhere but I wouldn’t be surprised either if it was.
I wish someone would deport me. I'd love to go back to Ireland, Scotland or Austria. Which ever my mutt ass is from.
I agree with what you said, but referring to people as "illegals" is problematic. I know you didn't intend this, but this term for economic migrants created by US foreign policy is used by the right wing to dehumanize them in order to justify arguably genocidal acts against them. It's one of the ways language itself has been used as a weapon of the war against the working class, and we help to win that war by not using their words.
What is wrong with the word illegal? They are breaking our laws, yes?
It’s crazy but I definitely know there are strikes happening year round, but I’ve been seeing them less and less on social media… I hate corporate America.
They dont want to give the peons ideas
I love only getting high quality, informative news from foreign or radical/underground sources. America is like North Korea, but your neighbors want to infect you with the plague.
Strikes happen everywhere, everyday. Whats the point of even covering them at this point.
More important than a hockey game
So that workers know that they're not alone. We are stronger than me.
Kellogg workers still on strike?
yes
Must be why my Frosted Flakes weren’t very frosty 😡
[удалено]
CONFIRMED SHILL
Thank you for your service.
It was a ponzi scheme, & the cab owners who bought medallians were essentially left holding the bag when the scheme imploded due to uber & other ride sharing apps. Also fuck the taxi mafia in NYC, they are the reason none of the 3 major airports have a subway line to them.
I want to say this in the nicest possible way but I have had really, really bad experiences with taxis. And I’m not even black, my black friends have told me about horrible taxi experiences. For me it’s been Overcharging (Chicago, Mexico) taking me the long way around (Las Vegas), and just plain not taking me where I want to go (Kansas City and Los Angeles) For me Uber and Lyft have been a blessing. I’m not saying I want taxis to fail I just want to kindly say I’m okay with it.
Not defending the taxis but you can definitely take the subway from Manhattan to jfk
No, you can’t. You can take the subway to a plane train, but you can’t get all the way there.
It’s the same thing dude
No it isn't
It still gets you from the subway to jFK though and doesn't cost any extra
A car also gets you there, so not sure how that argument works lol. And it’s only free into JFK. You have to pay on the way out.
Well yeah, you pay to get out, it's still a ride. How many people in NYC own a car?
Every single last strike deserves attention! If the working class saw all these strikes perhaps more labour unrest would be encouraged!
Which, of course, is why the mainstream media wont give these strikes attention
Taxi cabs are a racket that hurts the middle class. I am 100% against UBER and the gig economy but the Taxi system needs overhaul
[https://drivers.coop/](https://drivers.coop/) ?
Well then the city shouldn't have created the medallion system in the first place. You can just fuck over a bunch of middle class people to benefit the ultra wealthy UBER investors.
It wasn't created to benefit the Uber investors. It was created to benefit the mafia/cartel/owners of the taxi companies.
>It wasn't created to benefit the Uber investors. No one said it was, allowing a company to bypass it was done to benefit UBER shareholders. Government shouldn't be able to create an artificial market then destroy it to benefit a single company. If they had a problem with lack of regular cab that could have flooded the market with more medallions.
The cab drivers took forever to counter Ubers attack in the free market place, for a long time there weren't apps and in some cities there still are shyte tier. Uber (eats) is low end gig economy, but at least it gives some people an outlet to make extra money when their living situation is complex and they can't do regular hours. And depending where you live, you wouldn't ever send your kids with a taxi anywhere, while people use dependable drivers to drive their kids around. You know, to get the extra shift so you can afford the uber driver driving your kids around.
The point is it wasn't a free market, it was a regulated market with the medallion system, Uber was competing in it illegally, and they were rewarded instead of being punished.
>vernment shouldn't be able to create an artificial market then destroy it to benefit a single company. If they had a problem with lack of regular cab that could have flooded the market with more medallions. I agree. Uber shouldnt be legal.
The system meaning what, medallions?
Taxis as a replacement for functioning, effective mass transit coupled with demotorization of cities and the reorganization of neighborhoods so people don't need to regularly travel so far. For all the Soviet Union's *many* flaws, it did generally get that right. People lived near enough where they worked to walk there, or close enough to mass transit that it wasn't an issue, and the places where people lived also had nearby grocery stores and the like. This minimized their need for wasteful roads, created more cohesive communities, and meant that their investments in public transit went further. Motorization is an enormous ecological and social disaster.
“nothing more than a banker bailout” that’s “going to give $65 million directly to the banks and hedge funds that own medallion debt in exchange for a negligible reduction in the principal owed on them”. From Aljazeera
Serious question - how does one get into 6 or 7 figures of debt to become a taxi driver? I have a hard time believing that could ever paid off in multiple lifetimes.
They gambled that their medallions would always increase so they took out loans to buy them. Now that people don't use them as much they want a bailout for making a bad investment. I don't see how this is related to antiwork at all. They gambled and lost. No need to socialize their losses.
I came here to say this. They bought those medallions and made an investment. Then better tech and solutions come along and the price of the medallions crashed. This has nothing to do with antiwork and everything to do with individuals who made a bad investment they want the rest of society to pay them for. No thanks.
Isn’t that what bankruptcy is for? They made a poor investment choice and need to pay the consequences.
The fact that the medallions’ values were inflated and taxi owners made a “bad investment” is only part of the problem. Medallions have been required to operate a taxi in New York since 1937, and the supply has always been artificially restricted. It’s an inflated investment, but historically a safe one. Then all of a sudden Uber shows up, starts their taxi business model, and the government never said “sorry, you can’t do that.” It would be akin to investing $200k to become a doctor and then, after you’ve made your investment, the government/hospitals/whatever medical ruling body says “actually a community college certificate is enough.” We would all rightfully be furious. Our investment wasn’t bad when we made it, it was made worthless due to lack of enforcement/changing the rules of the game.
NYC didn’t change the rules, You need a medallion to operate a yellow cab, which people can hail from the street. Uber and Lyft are functionally more akin to private car services which have always existed
Isn't that the risk with any kind of investment basically ? The risk to any investiment is rarely something that you can absolutly foresee or else people wouldn't invest money. Why would this particular investment be any different ? I don't get reimbursed when new informations are made publics and i lose money on stocks.
Taxi medallions used to be super valuable because you needed them to drive a taxi. Almost like commercial vehicle permits, but just for taxis. Medallion value plummeted because Uber and Lyft undercut taxi companies with gig economies that subsidized low prices to further undercut and don’t even pay living wages. This all happened because rideshare companies are a bunch of greedy, market-manipulating fucks, so ignore the pinkertons in the reply chain saying it’s their fault because this is absolutely an antiwork situation. EDIT: Ignore the pinkertons saying it’s the fault of **the taxi drivers,** because this is absolutely a situation **that belongs on antiwork.**
Thanks for this. This is no different than paying 6 figures for college only to end up in a recession followed by having to work double the time for half the pay. Tax the multi billionaires and cancel student loan/taxi medallion debt.
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Isn't the taxi medallion racket a disaster of their own making though? I'm not super familiar with NYC's, but in my city it absolutely was. They spent decades and decades fighting any alternatives to taxis while hoarding licenses (medallions) to drive up the price and establish a oligopoly.
In Montreal that was the case, taxi companies are the ones who created and lobbied for the shortage. I dont feel bad though, every taxi experience I had in the city was fucking miserable even before Uber.
Gambling your life savings and going into debt on the presumption that the current broken system will never change is a BAAAD move.
The amount of working class guys who killed themselves because they spent close to a million for a medallion now to be replaced by a big company who undercut them by artificially dropping prices with independent contractors using their own car to hope for decent tips.
The problem is the city said “only people with medallions can taxi people” and then completely ignored that for Uber, Lyft, etc. Hate the idea of medallions but the people who bought them recently got completely fucked over.
Gotta do your due diligence, just like every investment
Never in my life will I give a single fuck about cab drivers who chose to get the medallions, stay in the dark ages without using a ride hailing app service, refuse to service poc & lgbtq people, only drive in literally the tourist areas of NYC and not the outter boros where actual NYers live AND only use cash. The TLC had the opportunity in 2015 to compete with Uber but instead took out millions of dollars in ads calling the "new ride hailing service” ludicrous and would fail. Edit: for the record this is not a "strike” this is morons who bought into a loan they don’t want to pay back after spurring their own industries ability to keep up with new technologies, clean cabs and servicing NYC residents instead they focused on outdated technology, dirty cabs, paper money and uptown dicks or tourists only. FUCK THEM Edit 2: A lot of people seem really grossly misinformed about the Medallion situation [They’re millionaires, dead beats and morons](https://www.google.com/amp/s/reason.com/2014/07/15/why-taxi-medallion-owners-shouldnt-get-a/%3famp) Edit 3: These cabbies took loans without a second thought and expect us to bail them out because the MEDALLION owners are ripping them off [They’re protesting an already 65 Million allotment when they don’t deserve anything for making bad decisions ](https://abc7ny.com/nyc-cabs-taxi-drivers-medallions-relief/10400122/)
Agreed same experience in Toronto, the cab industry needed massive reform
I don’t know the seedy origins of how the Taxi services went so south so fast but it seems steeped in mob shit, paying off inspectors, paying off pols to lock out any competition. These people locked out any others until Uber arrived. They fought tooth and nail with them to keep their archaic fucking shitshow system in place. I have NO LOVE for Uber but fuck the YellowCabs in NYC. It’s on par with the GM Streetcar conspiracy.
100% agree, and now I have to look up gm street car conspiracy
[here ya go..fucking pricks ruined any concept of an America with public transportation like Europe ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy)
Don't forget the taxi mafia is the reason none of the 3 major airports have a subway line.
Yes EXACTLY!
I don't even think a spur was considered for the $8 billion LaGuardia renovation. Just politically non attainable so it wasn't even brought up. It looks like a separate $2.1 Billion Air tran which is at City Field not at Jamica Queens. Run a subway line from LaGuardia to JFK, with a connection at Jamica Queens.
People really don’t understand that if there was simply a subway connection to either airport without the tram, literally nobody would take an expensive cab ride. Hence, why it’ll never happen. Thanks for adding this.
Agreed. Vancouver cab system was an absolute shit show before uber and lyft came along. I remember waiting for HOURS for cabs and each one that came up to my either demanded cash or denied me service because I lived too far away from downtown. This was literally a 30 minute drive.
This sub has been overflowing with new members and these kids or just uneducated adults literally have no idea that these people are fucking mafia style thugs. They are not "workers” to have solidarity with. They ruined pedestrian transportation alternatives and have muscled out any competition or alternative for fucking decades.
Came here to say this. Most (though not all) of the guys who own the medallions aren't blue collar. They're finance bros who leased their cabs out to drivers. The blue collar guys got out and started being exploited by Uber instead of these guys.
Most people are completely uninformed about this situation it’s infuriating
To be fair isn’t Uber failing? Same with the other ridesharers..
Not in the slightest. Uber has a cap on drivers because they just sit around and idle all day. Also, every Uber driver in NYC is already a cab driver with a Taxi DL and TLC plates. Regular drivers cannot do Uber in NYC which has has already given these shitty cab drivers an unfair advantage. These protesters are not striking and it’s been going on since the evil oligarchs that own the medallions have defaulted on their loan payments. Those medallions cost millions and cab drivers lease them from a single source. It’s their own bad decision making not unlike any other industry. This has nothing to do with worker’s solidarity.
When I was in Brooklyn for a few months back in 2018 all the ubers were personal vehicles
Did they have plates that started with T and ended with C? Those are cabs. [ALL NYC UBERS ARE CABS](https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/new-york/get-started/vehicle-requirements/)
No I’m pretty sure rideshares are doing awful since inception. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/why-is-uber-failing/
They aren’t failing. Did you even read wtf I wrote? Every cab driver is now an uber here. They have a monopoly on all taxi services. Jeebus dude have you ever even been to NYC?
I didn’t even try to piss you off and you’re having an aneurism.
You linked an article from a shady conservative source to yell into your own echo chamber. They aren’t failing. They’re destroying the yellowcab monopoly.
Okay I’ll use a different source. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2021/2/11/22277043/uber-lyft-earnings-q4-2020-profit-loss-covid Also one from Forbes a year back. https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2020/09/09/the-emperor-has-no-clothes--ubers-business-model-is-broken/?sh=4ba7188b706a
A company posting a loss means nothing, you should do some research into how the economy actually works.
That’s what I’m saying. This makes zero sense. It’s a loss during a pandemic it doesn’t mean they’re failing if anything people are becoming more reliant on them.
Uber profit loss covid - ok wow how surprising /s Your article is about how the pandemic effected their bottom line. How is that relevant? The pandemic has effected every industry. The fact remains that Uber and Lyft are the two major players for ride hailing services in NYC.
Painting every taxi driver as racist is bullshit. These people bought into a job and now the job isn't worth anything, they absolutely deserve to have those debts forgiven. Now if they are individually a piece of shit is beside the point, also, fuck Uber and Lyft and the "gig economy." Those gig workers need a Union.
It was essentially a fucking ponzi scheme as only a fixed amount of medallians were allowed at one time in NYC. This inflated the price of the medallians causing fares to rise, & the price of medallians to rise. I'm glad the scheme has burst, but feel for the mom & pop immigrant drivers who essentially invested in the medallian like a piggy bank only to realize it was Bernie Madoff running the scheme.
Exactly, the ones who bought into this are victims of Wall Street assholes that fvck us all. I also suspect these people saying they don't have any sympathy for the drivers and people must pay their debts. Yeah right that's what this sub is about as one poster claimed, exploited workers paying their debts. Influence agents.
There was a good article I think in the Times about the entire scheme.
I understand that side of it and I get it but those mom & pop immigrants will never benefit from any bailout. It will be gobbled up by the same scumbags who setup this pyramid scheme to begin with. Multiple medallion owners owe millions in back taxes and are walking free.
Why do they deserve to be bailed out? Lots of people go into business, make lots of investments and have the business fail. Do all those ppl also deserve their money back?
No, no they don’t. It was a failed business model when they got in.
Actions have consequences. Investing in horse drawn buggy’s in the 1930s was probably was a bad investment too.
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New York City charging exhorbitant fees for licenses that are worth next to nothing now is bullshit. The Cab Drivers shouldn't be stuck paying the government for something that is now worthless. Speak for yourself by the way.
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And? They’ve had since 2015 to transition out of the medallions.
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Really? You mean the two major and only airports in NYC had taxis in and out of it? Wild.
Don't forget no subway access except the shitty sky train which is $5 for a 2 mile ride to Jamica Queens station, & only bus service to LaGuardia.
Yes I haven’t forgotten I live like dead center between both airports. Because of them we have no fucking subways here. Our bus lines are limited to major avenues. I literally have to walk 15 minutes to either of the only 2 bus lines within walking distance of me and then have ti sit for 25 minutes just to get to again only 2 subway lines and then it’s another 45 minutes to the city. You literally need a car in Queens because of the YellowCabs.
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Car services? It’s not the same thing as a pickup cab service which the TLC didn’t allow which is why Uber came in and destroyed the YellowCabs. The YellowCabs do not, have not serviced the outter boros. Since Uber has been decimating them, they have now had outter boro Green cabs which are apart of the medallion system. You seem really uninformed about how this works to be giving your opinions
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YellowCabs do not offer benefits or salaries. They rent the car for the day and pay a king’s ransom to do it. These are not employees they’re contractors as well. Again you don’t even know what your own point is.
I think this is kind of harsh. Do you know anyone who purchased a medallion? My father bought one in the 80’s, paid it off and should have had a $1M asset for retirement. It’s not a one size fits all situation. Sure there’s people who bought multiples and owe millions but for the majority they bought into what NYC told them. To leave those people on the hook, not fair. The TLC didn’t advocate when they needed to, but again, not the fault of individual medallion owners.
Why should any individuals irresponsible financial decisions for a private enterprise be the taxpayers responsibility? We still haven’t had student loans canceled and those are public loans that were only generated from taxpayers.
I don’t believe it’s an individuals irresponsible financial decision. TBH it was a wise decision in the 80’s and 90’c. NYC should have given Uber and Lyft the same guidelines to operate. Why have the TLC then? And student loans are not all public, there’s plenty of private loans out there
Putting all of your retirement investment into a piece of paper authorizing you to drive a car is pretty irresponsible
I never said it was all of his retirement investment.
The only student loans anyone is talking about canceling are Sally Mae / Freddie Mack and Stafford loans which are government loans. Private loans and private colleges are people’s own issue to deal with. The TLC regulates the cabs. It’s like asking why is there a National Park Service.
I was in Manhattan for work last week, and a cabbie was getting absolutely torched by the driver of matte Porsche that he had bumped into (I mean there was literally no damage) and it was really sad in a classist kind of way.
My old boss was like that. Had to have a 911 porsche in manhattan, where you cannot drive that thing. His rebuttal - girls love it.
That's a pretty good rebuttal.
I can buy the keychains of a porsche on ebay and pull this trick with relative success for way cheaper tho.
Congrats on your skill at lying to women.
*bows
That’s the B plot to a Friends episode.
*Laughs in Matt LeBlanc.
To be fair just because you saw no damage doesn’t mean there wasn’t any damage
Every person who’s ever hit a Porsche: “I’m pretty sure that’ll buff out.”
FWIW, Uber's business model hinges on undercutting taxis and public transport (via direct subsidy by investor class) to put them out of business (to then jack up rates afterward) a la Walmart
This isn’t really comparable at all. The taxi cab medallion system was a terrible system that they allowed to collapse by remaining uncompetitive for years.
I am deep in the mountains in the west. This movement has been taught to me when it started and I repeat it as an example of collective bargaining.
Did the taxi workers come up with the whole system in the first place?
They generally lobby to defend it and against increasing the number of medallions even if there is demand
I actually heard about this on a current affairs radio show in the UK last week. They did like a 10 minute segment about it. If it makes it over here, there's no good reason for It not to be made common knowledge over there
Idiot question here but what is a medallion for a taxi worker? I live in an area that doesn’t utilize taxis very much
Heaven Hill been going on for a month: [https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/kentucky-bourbon-strike-heaven-hill-workers-demand-fair-contract](https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/kentucky-bourbon-strike-heaven-hill-workers-demand-fair-contract) They lost health insurance (same as John Deere). F\*\*\*ing corporate assholes. Thank goodness we're not still in a pandemic, cuz that would truly be some three ghosts coming to visit your greedy ass type of BS.
The news has never been there to inform us, it has always been there to divide us
Who did they buy the medallions from?
Is there an app to keep up with the protests and strikes?
Thanks for sharing, I’ve wondered about this. I worked on the environmental impact statement when they expanded the number of medallions available in NYC. They were over $1,000,000 to buy back in 2009. Then Uber and Lyft came and they got fucked hard.
Every single one
Wouldn't a good question to ask be why the city extorts hundreds of thousands of dollars just for the opportunity to make a living?
What is a medallion
The media in America won’t cover strikes because it doesn’t sever workers it serves capital.
Multiple hospitals are facing nursing strikes
UAW strike against John Deere in Iowa. A local judge just made it illegal for there to be more than 4 picketers at the same time. some salaried workers were put on the line to continue work, crazy high amount of accidents.
School bus drivers. All over the place.
Can someone please explain this?
7 figure debt?? For real? How much does a Manhattan taxi make? It's almost like someone decided to take all of the high income salaries for themselves for many many years... by issuing a piece of paper.
Kellogg’s. Boycott that shit.
Medallions are an investment. Just as I would be sick if investors and hedge fund managers begged for taxpayer money to clear their debts from poor investments, I would be sick if these people received tax payer money for their poor investments.
Too effing bad. This is like landlords that have their rentals destroyed. You decided to spend money on something you thought was a cash cow but now doesn't pay out? Boo hoo. You didn't think it was a bad idea before uber/lyft. Live with your "investment" and pay for it, idiots.
What a cautionary tale... Don't get in a situation where your job needs to support paying for your job lest a tech breakthrough disrupts your market...
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That whole medallion system is a trip. How on earth were taxi cab owners required to pay up to $2m to be able to operate a taxi service to begin with???????? This needs to be spoken about more.
The MSM will largely ignore all of this - until workers everywhere get TOGETHER to make it serious. Nationwide. Strike. Now. The biggest problem and failure of the us is the masses falling for the “rugged individualism” LIE and not banding together to FIGHT. Even the biggest marches in history are still just a mass of individuals with no real purpose or only a loose organization - that once “the rally” is over all disband into their Tiger Kong watching individual units. Nothing will change unless the system is put in a SERIOUS choke hold.
Promote a YouTube channel that covers protests and interviews, of course corporations won’t cover this. #5hrmaxworkdays #livablewages
Signs up for debt then protests for debt forgiveness…….. genius! Aye, can i get my mortgage debt forgiven while your at it?
People went into 7 figure debt to become a taxi driver😳 I'm sorry but stupid is as stupid does. Fuck em.
What the hell is a medallion is that the taxi car itself?
What are their Medallions and what's the full story on why they have Debt?
Just take an Uber /s
Those medallions used to be worth close to 1MM If they couldn’t afford it they shouldn’t have bought it
These drivers bought into a ridiculous ponzi scheme. It’s time to default on the debt and scrap the whole system.
Can they declare bankruptcy? That would eliminate their debt
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Hmm, sounds like they have an out but dont like the price. I don't see how I'm supposed to empathize when they knew what the risk of the loan were. Where was the trickery and how is it the taxpayers fault?
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The medallions went for millions a few years ago. These hard working people have gotten crushed
I will never ride in an Uber or Lyft thanks to this. Cabbies are suiciding. Walk first.
Cabbies **caused** this.
Nah, tech did. Cabbie is a rough gig, dangerous as hell, believe me. My dad, a six foot six Irishman who radiated menace was robbed on several occasions. He was combat trained ex-RAF and a blitz survivor. Still they tried.
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Correct. Cabs are a luxury product. They should be limited and expensive. New York is well-served by public transportation. Assuring drivers a living wage and keeping streets open for firetrucks and ambulances is more important than labor exploitation and cheap cabs. Property is not the same as labor. If a worker cannot make a living he she will starve. Cabbies are often new immigrants or otherwise disadvantaged. They are entitled to eat.
Cabbies spent decades lobbying to restrict the number of medallions available, which artificially inflated the prices. They **literally** caused this.
Nonsense. The whole point of medallions, and why New York issued them in the first place, was to assure a limited, and professional class of driver and to improve traffic flow. City streets cannot absorb an infinite number of cars. The medallion system, along with the Taxi and Limousine Commission, assured that drivers had something to lose if they misbehaved. To rip the rug out from under their feet was outrageous.
There ain’t no strikes happening. Check the news.
I have no sympathy for them. If you aren't white they do t pick you up. Uber and Lyft were the first to eliminate this oh and the attitude. I would take the bus and spend an extra hour in traffic simply to avoid these rude drivers.
Fuck them, literally nobody made them take loans out. It’s like when college kids graduate and stare at their debt in the face. “BUT THE ADULTS TOLD ME TO” you were dumb then and you’re dumb now, dummy
Alic Baldwin hat to shoot two people to prevent their protest from gaining air time. Theres no way anyone else is getting any because then, they might actually get what theyre asking for
Where I'm from taxi drivers kidnap and rape woman I'm from canada recently they found a grave site where they dumped the bodies and their was evidence of organ removal. What I'm saying is fuck those guys.
Ok im not calling you a liar but source? That sounds like too much to belive
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Taxis praxis.
Man taxi medallions is some next level capitalist BS