Privacy Digest

NYC Taxi Drivers Threaten To Strike Over GPS Proposal - NY1: Top Stories: "Some taxi drivers are angry about a plan to install global positioning system devices in their yellow cabs and they are threatening to hang up their keys.

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance has long opposed the plan - claiming it is an invasion of drivers' privacy.

'Why the TLC wants to know when and where and what time a taxi driver has taken their kids to the park, or gone out to a restaurant, or to the movies, is beyond our understanding,' sad NY Taxi Workers Alliance Executive Director Bhairavi Desai.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission wants to install the devices in all yellow and livery cabs. But the alliance is encouraging its 8,400 members to walk off the job on September 1st, rather than accept the GPS units - a decision, it believes, commuters will support.

'The New Yorkers, we believe, will realize that that the drivers are fighting for a just cause and if it means that people will be inconvenienced, well, we believe the riders will stand with us,' said Desai.

The TLC says the new technology is intended to help cab drivers get around the city, reunite passengers with lost items, and help the police catch criminals preying on taxi drivers.

The plan has angered some taxi drivers.

'Track me? For what?' demanded cab driver Samuel Owusu.

Owusu says the devices, which would cost drivers at least an extra $40 a month, are just an extra expense they do not need.

'They didn't give us a raise for ten years and now the little raise they gave us they're taking everything back,' lamented Owusu.

Not all taxicab drivers NY1 spoke with are against the plan, though.

'I don't mind,' said one. 'It's for our safety.'

In a statement, the commissioner says, 'I am puzzled that this group is not telling its members that drivers with the systems are making an average 18-percent more in tips.'
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(Read Original Article - Via NY1: Top Stories .)