Union Stands with Pedicab Drivers Against New Mayoral Plan
The Union issued this press release today, signaling our opposition to a Mayoral plan which would eliminate the bulk of the jobs and livelihood of pedicab drivers in Central Park, most of whom come from Senegal and Sierra Leone. We view this as an unconscionable attack on the working poor and are committing resources to a fightback.
TWU Local 100 – the largest transport workers local in the country – is helping vulnerable pedicab drivers fight for their jobs, Local 100 President John Samuelsen announced Friday.
The union has begun helping the drivers organize and will be providing training, legal advice and other assistance. Pedicab worker representatives were at the Union Hall in Brooklyn today and a large gathering is planned at TWU Local 100 headquarters for Monday.
Mayor de Blasio is pushing a plan that would ban pedicabs from Central Park below 86th St. where all the business is located.
The plan also would shrink the number of the popular horse-drawn carriages, and have the carriage industry vacate now-valuable real estate on the West Side where the horses are now stabled.
“No credible person believes this is about animal welfare at this point,” Samuelsen said. “Obviously, there’s more than meets the eye at play. These vulnerable workers are being thrown under the bus in a way that is the opposite of progressive. It’s anti-worker, anti-immigrant, and these workers shouldn’t have their livelihoods ripped away from them just so the mayor can reward his campaign donors.
"This fugazy deal stinks to high heaven. These workers now have a voice and the backing of the 42,000-strong TWU Local 100.”