Monday rally gives voice to taxi drivers at Boston City Council

Regulatory hearing of Uber, Lyft as ‘personal vehicles for hire’

MEDIA ADVISORY

Contact:  Donna Blythe-Shaw (USW), 617-640-4299; Dshaw@usw.org

WHAT: Boston Rally & Public Hearing on Regulating Uber, Lyft Personal Vehicles

WHEN: Monday, Dec. 1, 2014   

RALLY: City Hall Plaza; 12:00 Noon; Boston Taxi Drivers Association (BTDA)     

HEARING: Boston City Hall, Iannella Chamber – 5th floor; 1:30 pm

LABOR PROTEST RALLY -- At 12:00 Noon, the Boston Taxi Drivers Association (BTDA) will hold a rally on City Hall Plaza to demand un-licensed Uber, Lyft and other illegal vehicles for hire be taken off the streets.  Boston taxi drivers will be joined in protest against Uber and Lyft as unregulated personal vehicles for public transit by labor and community leaders. Participants will include taxi driver organizations from New York City and Philadelphia. Demonstrators will have placards, display banners, and their city-marked cabs.  

The BTDA represents 1,400 local city cab drivers and is a local affiliate of the United Steelworkers (USW), AFL-CIO. “Creating a ‘limousine service for the masses’ might be popular, but in the City of Boston it is illegal, endangers consumers and needs to be stopped,” says Donna Blythe-Shaw, USW/BTDA Staff Representative. 

“City cab drivers must meet public safety and transit insurance standards.  It is time to take action against unlicensed and unregulated personal vehicles for hire operated by Uber and Lyft that are on the streets of Boston.” 

Leaders of the BTDA will be asking the Boston City Council members at the hearing: “Shouldn’t Uber and Lyft drivers be subject to the same rules and regulations in Boston as other city-regulated vehicles for hire to protect consumers and workers?”

Blythe-Shaw declares: “Boston Cab drivers say – enough is enough! Defiance of current laws and regulations by Uber and Lyft sabotages taxi drivers who play be the rules of city-regulated fares to make a living.  That’s where the City of Boston has failed its licensed cab drivers.”

The USW is the largest private-sector union in North America, representing 850,000 workers employed in metals, mining, rubber, paper, oil refining and renewable energy products, chemicals, transportation, health care, security, hotels, and municipal governments.

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