Good morning. As the sun rises, so do millions of workers, among them @nyctaxi yellow cab, Uber/Lyft, livery drivers who will move close to a million people today - with hopes to dawn a better tomorrow. @NYCMayor @GovKathyHochul @JulieSuLabor nytimes.com/2026/09/28/nyreg…

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.

Must-read article in @jacobin about how some class traitors in the labor movement are cutting backroom deals with corporate bosses Uber and Lyft that relegate drivers to second class citizens, locked out of minimum wage and other worker protections. "Large unions are trading away these rights in exchange for sectoral agreements that minimize the voices of workers themselves."

We are outraged and shocked. Today's TLC hearing started with a moment of silence for our three brothers found dead in their taxis in the last three months, and a heartfelt tribute by Commissioner Valdivia. But it ended with Queens Commissioner Paul Bader - a former cab driver himself - using his one vote to block a desperately-needed relief package for drivers. The package would save drivers $1M in fines, including for violations for which the TLC already imposes license suspensions, following Mayor Mamdani's order to reduce overly punitive fines on New Yorkers. Significantly, it would also improve the lifesaving Medallion Relief Program - which we won by going on hunger strike - by allowing owner-drivers to leave their medallions with a city-backed guarantee to family members in case of death or retirement. Commissioner Bader absurdly claimed that repealing a $25 fine sent the wrong message to drivers because it would mean they wouldn't suffer financial consequences for something as trivial as misplacing a license. So he callously voted down the entire relief package, blocking the TLC from implementing it even though the other 4 commissioners present voted in favor. This was a cynical betrayal of the 180,000 New Yorkers who support their families as TLC drivers and who are already in the midst of a financial crisis. At a time when our brothers are literally working themselves to death, Commissioner Bader's vote was heartless political maneuvering. And apparently he thinks we're gullible because sprinkled in the grandstanding was a message about how drivers need more. Of course we do! How can we trust you to fight for more for us when you vote down important progress - just to teach us a lesson over $25! The only "principles" Bader displayed were a disdain for workers and a complete lack of empathy. Ultimately, we know we will prevail. Along with these rules, we need a full board of commissioners at the TLC that won't play politics with the lives of drivers or stab us in the back.

“Billionaire tech bosses underestimate workers at their own peril,” said Bhairavi Desai, the executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. 🔥🔥🔥 nytimes.com/2026/06/17/techn…

🤬 No-good, terrible, reckless, heartless, cruel Uber has sued to stop Local Law 52 (Intro 276), the historic just cause protections NYTWA members won to stop unfair deactivations by Uber and Lyft. Uber — the same behemoth corporation that treats drivers and their families as expendable, whose unfair deactivations leave drivers devastated — now cries victim in their nonsense suit. According to Uber, the grass is blue and the sky is green and Uber is the sufferer and drivers the oppressors. These multi-billionaire gig lords, in their upside down world, claim that the Local Law 52 should be put on hold and drivers should instead use the useless, corporate-controlled process of Uber’s company union, the IDG. Uber absurdly calls the protections of Local Law 52, which include independent fact finders, courts, city investigators, arbitrators, a kangaroo court. Shame on Uber. Unfair deactivations destroy families. Without Local Law 52, Uber fires drivers at whim for no reason or any reason at all and drivers have no fair recourse, no independent appeal process, or opportunity to defend themselves. Don’t fall for the “bosses are always right and are the only ones who deserve rights” gobbledygook of the Epstein class: just cause is a basic protection that should be afforded to all workers. We stood up to these greedy gig lords, beat Uber at city council, and won just cause protections. Now, the city must fight with all its might to beat Uber's nonsense lawsuit in the courts. Drivers deserve the dignity of job security. We will settle for nothing less.

NYTWA Executive Director Bhairavi Desai's statement @GovKathyHochul's auto insurance reform proposals: Governor Hochul is right to focus on lowering the cost of auto insurance, given New Yorkers pay higher rates than other states. For Uber and taxi drivers, there's no doubt we need solutions to exorbitant premiums and to fraud, one of the leading contributors to inflated insurance rates. Insurance rates for Uber and taxi drivers have increased by up to 30 percent as professional drivers are left on the hook for the insolvency of the largest insurance carrier, American Transit Insurance Company, bearing the brunt of a crisis they did not cause, much like the medallion debt crisis. This is an unfair and unsustainable burden with serious long-term consequences of debt and job loss. NYTWA supports Hochul’s anti-fraud proposals and her proposal to bar motorists driving under the influence or unlicensed from receiving benefits above the no-fault maximum rate, which we believe will make the streets safer. We oppose, however, the proposal to completely eliminate any coverage beyond no-fault for motorists found to be 51 percent or more at fault. That drastic reduction in coverage could be devastating for a workforce where many labor without Workers Compensation, wholly dependent on auto insurance in case of long-term injury on the job. The bottom line remains: in order for the promises of the proposed bills to be meaningful to our sector, the Governor must address our crisis with specificity. Our union is calling for support to establish a captive insurance program to reduce premiums in the long-term and an immediate premium subsidy to address drivers' skyrocketing rates due to the insurance crisis in the industry.

NYTWA members are excited to testify at today's 1 PM @NYCCouncil rules committee hearing in support of @NYCMayor's appointment of Midori Valdivia as the Chair of the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission. We support Ms. Valdivia because of her years of experience in the industry and her commitment to workers' rights. The hearing will be live-streamed here: council.nyc.gov/livestream. Ms. Valdivia met with NYTWA yellow cab, Uber, and Lyft members at our office on Monday.

With such popular support, it would be a historic betrayal by electeds and organizers alike to not pursue more than one progressive tax. The $5 billion deficit is for a decades-long austerity budget. We need more to reach the full potential of a just and compassionate city.

NYC cabbies say: tax the rich, not the poor!!!

Bhairavi Desai, the executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents more than 28,000 cab, Uber and Lyft drivers in the city, said she welcomed the governor’s decision to pump the brakes on the upstate pilot programs. “This is technology that is going to have a significant impact on livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers,” Ms. Desai said, adding that her group was skeptical of the industry’s safety claims. nytimes.com/2026/02/19/nyreg…

A beautiful article on the special friendship between @NYCMayor @ZohranKMamdani and drivers through the bond between the Mayor and our big brother Richard @RichardChow929, by @WinnHu @nytimes “I lost my brother,” he said. “I woke up all the drivers." nytimes.com/2026/02/01/nyreg…

Council advances bill meant to protect rideshare drivers ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/tra…

"It's incumbent upon this city council to do really strong, robust worker protection, and that's exactly what we're doing today." - The indomitable @SpeakerMenin on her support for Intro 276 - @voteshekar's historic just cause bill for Uber & Lyft drivers - and her support for Street Vendor reform. We are so proud to work with the most pro-worker @NYCCouncil in NYC history under the leadership of @SpeakerMenin to protect Uber and Lyft drivers from losing their livelihoods due to corporate greed. @VendorPower

NYTWA & @voteshekar are rallying on the steps of City Hall on Thursday at noon ahead of the @NYCCouncil's vote to override Adams' 11th hour anti-worker veto of Intro 276. Under the leadership of @JulieMenin and our pro-worker mayor @ZohranKMamdani, we're going to uphold the will of the super majority of council members that voted to pass the strongest and most comprehensive just cause protections for Uber and Lyft drivers in the nation! (And we might even stop by to bring @NYCMayor a warm winter hat!)