This has been another historic year for our Guild, thanks to thousands of drivers coming together to make real change, but as the new state congestion tax looms there are more fights ahead and we need your help to win.
We won the first vision and telemedicine benefits for Black Car and app-based drivers. We also launched free flu shots for all NYS Black Car and app-based drivers at Rite-Aid. If you haven’t signed up for your benefits and got your flu shot, we urge you to do so by going to https://drivers benefits.org/flu/.
Reap the benefits of your work – and protect yourself, your livelihood and your family.
We came together to petition for and win the nation’s first livable pay floor law for app-based drivers. The Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) tells us they plan to finalize their rules by the end of the year and make our desperately needed raise a reality.
But looming ahead of us is yet another unfair tax on FHVs: the $2.75 per trip so-called congestion tax begins in January. Already Black Car and app-based trips are subject to a nearly 9% sales tax, while taxi and livery are not. Adding another $2.75 tax on every FHV trip in Manhattan below 96th St will drive up prices for our riders and put downward pressure on our wages without drivers getting any benefits. Meanwhile, commercial vehicles, private vehicles and delivery vehicles get off scot free
Worse yet, the city’s TLC is advocating that the state nix the new $2.50 congestion tax on taxis, but leave the $2.75 tax in place for the rest of us. The unfair sales tax already skews the industry in favor of taxis. Doubling down on that with a tax that yields no benefits for drivers would be disastrous for the nearly 100,000 working families in our city who rely on FHV driver income.
We need you to stand with us on this fight and on issues like relief stands, airport bathrooms and banning predatory leasing. Please join us at drivingguild.org.
