Communities in NYC: The Lease Drivers Coalition

Background: This excerpt comes from a 1993 article printed in the Voice, a newsletter produced by the New York City–based Coalition Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV). The CAAAV formed after the Detroit murder of Vincent Chin in 1982 and continued to report local and national incidents of violence, police brutality, profiling, abuses of power, and other forms of state violence. As such, it powerfully documented instances of anti-Asian violence in New York City, especially against working-class Asian groups. The Lease Drivers Coalition (LDC) was one of the groups of South Asian workers organized by the CAAAV to fight for improved working conditions.

The Lease Drivers Coalition

The Lease Drivers Coalition continues to push for the rights of taxi cab drivers, many of whom are immigrants from South Asia. Our efforts have met with both enthusiasm from drivers and ire from those who exploit them – from the Taxi and Limo[u]sine Commission to the NYPD to the owners of various garages. Through the wide distribution of our own newsletter, In the Driver’s Seat, and multilingual flyers in Urdu, Hindi and English at garages, gas stations, and restaurants where drivers congregate, we have promoted the interests of drivers. The LDC has succeeded in winning a public hearing in City Council concerning the safety of drivers. We advocate a one-way radio safety system connecting drivers directly with the police as a realistic preventative measure against robberies and murders on the job.

At our bi-weekly meetings with drivers, we have discussed many other issues – health insurance for drivers, geography and English classes for drivers who are new to the city, a regular WBAI radio program for cab drivers’ concerns, TLC abuses of power, organizing against the increase in lease prices likely to accompany the increase in subway and cab fares, and the danger of anti-Muslim feeling generated by the racist coverage of the World Trade Center bombing. In addition, we are trying to expand our outreach to the broader South Asian community by leafletting and distributing our petition on the safety campaign at mosques, temples and shopping districts. If you are interested in working on these important issues, please contact Kwong at CAAAV.

Source: “The Lease Drivers Coalition,” Voice, Spring 1993, 5. In WAG 319, Box 1, Folder 1, New York Taxi Workers Alliance Records, Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives, New York University Library.