How NYC’s taxi drivers won the fight for debt relief

Brut America

Faced with crushing debt, some committed suicide. Dozens of them went on hunger strike in a desperate call for help.  Here’s how New York’s taxi drivers won their fight for debt relief ...

Transcript

00:00These taxi drivers need a bailout.

00:02We want justice!

00:05You see New York, if there is no yellow, it's not New York.

00:09This is the icon.

00:10The hunger strike is a drastic step, but it's a necessary step for many of us.

00:20I'm feeling free. It's a new beginning.

00:31New York City

00:41This is the medallion.

00:42It's a city permit that allows you to operate in the city and at the airport.

00:46One of the things that my father always talked about is how important it was that we had this medallion,

00:52how proud he was of owning a piece of New York.

00:55He really felt like it was a ways and means for us to move to the middle class.

01:00My father passed away in 2015, and I decided to take it over to carry on his legacy.

01:07Right now, I owe about $500,000.

01:26New York City

01:33In 2004, I was lucky enough to enter a bid with New York City to purchase a medallion.

01:43And I won!

01:45So, I started living my American dream.

01:49By 2014, the dream started turning into a nightmare, you know, because we started having competition.

01:58I have a $651,000 loan.

02:02I pay a license to do the job, and then someone has it for free.

02:07By 2016, I lost 40% of my income.

02:112017, 60% of my income.

02:15So, it was just become very hard.

02:18You know, life was getting very difficult.

02:22So, we start coming here, to city hall, to tell them something is wrong.

02:29You sold us a license, you give it for free for the other one,

02:33you decimated our medallion, the value of our medallion, you completely decimated.

02:40New York City

02:43Every day, we light the nine candles that we celebrate the lives,

02:48the life of the nine drivers that took the online.

03:00Regulatory agencies knew, the city knew,

03:04and these suicides are not just an indirect side effect,

03:10they are a direct consequence of the neglect of a vulnerable community in New York City.

03:17These taxi drivers need a bailout, because this is not just about predatory collection practices,

03:23as I was discussing with my colleague here,

03:25this is manufactured financial indentured servitude.

03:35New York City

03:46We want justice!

03:49We want action!

03:52During the height of the pandemic, we started having a Zoom meeting,

03:56and it started with 20-30 guys, just to get them on to unemployment benefits.

04:03And so, but then it ballooned up to 300-400 people that would come on Zoom,

04:07we started sharing stories, we started talking about, hey, maybe this isn't our fault,

04:11maybe there's something we could do about it.

04:13Then we started protesting outside Grace's Mansion, went to D.C. to speak with senators.

04:17Now we have been out here for 45 days, 14 days on hunger strike,

04:22and because we understand what our worth is.

04:25Today is the 14th day of hunger strike.

04:30So no food, without eat nothing, I'm not going home, stay here 14 days.

04:38So we are fighting for my brother Kenny Chow, my brother committed suicide,

04:46so we're fighting for my brother, I'm fighting for myself,

04:50I'm fighting for 6,000 medallion owner, and then plus their family.

05:06It was hard, it's a hard time.

05:11It was hard, it was a deep struggle in the making since 2014.

05:19Today we get it done, we have it, I'm happy, I'm free, I have my life back.

05:29And that's what I was asking for.

05:31Thanks to our leadership, thanks to the union, New York Taxi Workers' Alliance,

05:37thanks to the union, New York Taxi Workers' Alliance, we had a teamwork,

05:42and then now, it was hard.

05:47Believe me, it was very hard for me to believe in it, even though I believe in myself,

05:52but it's a reality.

05:54It's here, it's good, I'm happy for it, you know.

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