Bhairavi Desai, a native of India, has been organizing taxi drivers since 1996. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of the 15,000-member New York Taxi Workers Alliance since 1998. Through organizing, direct action, legal and health services, media presence, political advocacy and the cultivation of allies and supporters – NYTWA, a multi-ethnic, multi-generational union – builds power for one of the most vulnerable and visible immigrant workforces in the city of New York. Taxi drivers are thirty times more likely to be killed and eighty times more likely to be robbed on the job than any other worker in the United States (Dept. of Labor). Through the years, NYTWA has increased drivers’ incomes by 35%-45%, secured over $15 million in 9/11 aid, recovered $120,000 for drivers whose licenses were unlawfully suspended or revoked, defended $300,000 in court claims by taxi companies, and provided pro bono or discounted legal, financial management, and health services to over 10,000 drivers and families. In 2011, NYTWA was chartered to build the National Taxi Workers Alliance, the 57th union of the AFL-CIO. The NTWA is the first charter for non-traditional workers since the farm workers in the 1960’s, and the first one ever of independent contractors.
