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 ...
Here’s how New York’s taxi drivers won their fight for debt relief ...
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NewsTranscript
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.