Khalifa Siwa died holding his insulin pen. Babacar Dem was on kidney dialysis three times a week and drove longer hours to make up for income he lost while receiving his treatment so that he could keep up with his lease payments. Richard Coulibaly had been in and out of the hospital due to heart issues. Jagjit Singh picked up his 10-year-old twin sons from school every day but couldn't afford to take time off for his health. The four yellow taxi drivers who died on the job over the summer all had health issues they weren't able to take care of because they couldn't afford to take time off. Most Americans can't afford to take unpaid sick days. But the situation is even more dire for NYC's professional drivers who pay every day just to go to work with fixed expenses like vehicle insurance, car lease payments, and medallion loan payments. Any day they take off puts them further into debt. That's why we're organizing to win life-saving health and wellness benefits for NYC yellow taxi, Uber, Lyft, and livery drivers including: ➡️ short-term disability ➡️ supplemental Workers Comp and disability ➡️ paid sick and family leave ➡️ term life and accidental death and dismemberment insurances ➡️supplemental care such as vision, dental, ➡️ and the first-ever retirement plan for NYC drivers Uber and Marblegate's endorsement of NYTWA's health and wellness agenda means that over 100,000 NYC drivers are that much closer to securing these critical on-the-job safety nets. Unlike in 2013-2014 when taxi garages organized to oppose NYTWA's fund for yellow cab drivers, this time there is active support from the two largest corporations for NYTWA's proposal.

Tune into @WBAI 99.5 FM at 12:30 PM today to hear NYTWA Executive Director Bhairavi Desai talk about our fight for on-the-job benefits for all TLC drivers.

Baboucar Dem, 60, died mid-shift, on a bathroom break with his taxi parked on the streets he served. Born in Senegal, he drove for over 30 years. A fellow cabbie would tell you that he likely served 100,000 people during that time. Baboucar valued education for his children more than anything else. His 21-year-old daughter is a nursing student. His 19-year-old son is a psychology major. His 17-year-old daughter wants to become a doctor. His 6-year-old son, the heart and joy of their world, just started 1st grade and wants to become a YouTuber. Baboucar roamed the corners of New York City for fares, keeping strangers safe and on time, but he always returned to the Bronx to bring his youngest home from school every afternoon. He worked longer hours and more days to make it so. Rest easy, our brother. Your light shines on as a star in the skies. Your legacy lives on through your children - united, resilient and determined as you taught them to be and dedicated to their mom. And legacy lives on through our struggle. Rest in eternal peace, our dear brother.

Breaking News! In an incredible show of force, NYS Attorney General Letitia James, 11 labor unions and legal service and civil rights organizations, and four professors of constitutional, labor and contract law, along with NYTWA, filed Amicus briefs in federal court in support of the City of New York's appeal of a misguided injunction that put Local Law 52 on hold -leaving thousands of drivers without protections against unfair firings (deactivations) by Uber and Lyft, without notice, an independent appeal process or just cause reasoning. The @NewYorkStateAG argues in her Amicus that Local Law 52 builds on New York State's long history of protecting workers in specific sectors and that the court's ruling granting Uber and Lyft an injunction threatens the power of the city and state to enact sector-specific labor laws. @LegalAidNYC and @LSNYCnews argue in their Amicus (which AALDEF, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, @MFJLegal, @NELA_NewYork, and @nylag signed onto) that Uber and Lyft's business model creates economic precarity for drivers that merits city regulation and that the corporations' arbitrary deactivations of drivers causes harm. In the Amicus Brief filed by NYTWA, @ALIGNny, @Teamsters, @UAWRegion9A,  and @workersjusticep we argue that wrongful and arbitrary deactivations devastate drivers, who are fired without adequate notice and no meaningful appeal process and that Local Law 52 will likely make NYC safer. The NYTWA brief also explains how Local Law 52 is just further progress on laws that already limit companies from firing workers such as anti-retaliation measures. Professors @veenadubal, Jennifer Gordon, @profhuq, and @ZephyrTeachout argue in their Amicus that Local Law 52 constitutes routine worker protection legislation and is similar to many existing laws restricting the termination and cancellation of economic relationships. Further, the court's interpretation of the Contract Clause of the U.S. constitution would produce absurd and dangerous results and would lead to judicial micromanaging of the state’s core legislative function of economic regulation. Read the briefs here: drive.google.com/drive/u/1/f… Our fight is long from over, but today drivers are feeling the solidarity of Attorney General Letitia James and our allies who joined us in standing up to corporations who seek to dominate workers and leave them in utter ruin. We won't allow Uber and Lyft to use their corporate influence to block the just cause protections that drivers need to survive. The Judge's ruling is dangerous to the rights of all workers, and that's why a broad coalition of unions, legal service advocates and the attorney general are united to see it overturned.