www.workersworldtoday.com
November 2021
4
Workers’ Rights
Taxi Drivers Savor Victory as Medallion Debt Bailout Deal Ends Hunger Strike BY SAMANTHA MALDONADO THE CITY
I
t was a day they hungered for, but feared would never come. Cab drivers on Wednesday broke their hunger strike after reaching an agreement with the city to restructure the crushing debt that’s devastated many taxi medallion owners. The cabbies danced outside of City Hall, with chants of “No more suicides” ringing through the brisk air. Some cried from their seats nearby, snuggling beneath blankets. Others savored the taste of avocado, the first food they’d eaten in over two weeks. For 46 straight days and nights, cab drivers and their allies have protested outside City Hall — escalating to a hunger strike for the past 15 days as they called on the city to step in and help ease their overwhelming financial burden.
Taxi workers rejoice outside City Hall. Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
“I couldn’t be happier right now,” said one of the hunger strikers, Augustine Tang, 37, a driver from Brooklyn. “I’m so relieved. We didn’t ever think it would get to this point. What people don’t really see is that we have been here for years. We’ve been protesting for so many years.” Under the agreement, Marblegate Asset Management — the private equity firm that is the largest holder of medallion loans — will restructure loans to a maximum of $200,000, which then decreases to
$170,000 with a grant from the city of $30,000. The interest rate will be capped at 5% over a 20-year term, which will amount to monthly payments of $1,122. That’s a far cry from the hundreds of thousands in loans some drivers long carried as medallion value plummeted amid competition from appbased rideshare services. Tang’s father, originally from Hong Kong, drove a yellow taxi. When he died in 2015, Tang inherited the medallion and the associated $530,000 in
debt. He carries on his father’s legacy through driving — and fighting for a win. “I hope he’s proud,” Tang said, tearing up. “I’m sure he didn’t want me to go through what I went through throughout this journey, but us winning has to be something.” ‘We Relax Now’ The deal will work in tandem with the city’s federally funded $65 million Medallion Relief Program, which had provided $21.4 million in debt relief for 173 medallion owners as of
Oct. 30. “Taxi workers have worked tirelessly to make New York City the most vibrant city in the world, and we refuse to leave them behind,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. The city’s number is somewhat higher than the $145,000 maximum loan the New York Taxi Worker Alliance, which represents 25,000 taxi and appbased drivers, had sought. But crucially, the city agreed to guarantee the principal of the loans in case of default. “The guarantee was the biggest thing we needed,” Jaslin Kaur, a former candidate for City Council from Glen Oaks, Queens. “Without the guarantee, we knew drivers would default on their loans and, without having a protection plan in place, that lenders would be able to abuse many drivers, too.” Kaur’s father, Partap Singh, 62, has been a taxi driver for three decades. Burdened with continued on page 5
