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ABSTRACT
The New York City taxi industry operated primarily from the early 1900s until 1979 as a commission based system between fleet garage owners and their drivers. While there was also a minority of owner-drivers, owners of their means of production, the industry maintained a revenue sharing relationship between owners and workers until the economic downturn of the 1970s and the evolution of the leased cab, known as ‘horse hiring.’ This article examines how an atomized industry, such as cab driving, in which the entire work process is performed by one person, responded to both the global economic downturns ― the loss of manufacturing jobs in New York City, and the immediate impact of the oil crises of 1973 and 1979 on the fleet garages in New York City. In addition, the virulent 14 day taxi strike in December 1970 was a precipitating factor in starting a rank-and-file movement among the younger drivers. While the atomized nature of taxi driving is considered along with the repeated failures to successfully unionize, the social history of the industry is viewed as more reflective of the general post-Vietnam War downturn in the United States by the early 1970s.
Acknowledgments
My thanks to Joseph Grossman, Joshua Freeman, and Michael Brown, who introduced me to critical theory and Marxism.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
References
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Notes
1. The Belmore Cafeteria on Park Avenue South and East 28th Street was the most famous taxi driver hangout until the early 1980s. Portrayed in the famous Martin Scorcese movie of 1976, Taxi Driver, it was one of many New York City hangouts with a ‘Hack Stand’ sign.
2. In the 1970s, the most prominent taxi jargon referred to the driving of passengers without turning on the taximeter. The terms ‘flag ups,’ ‘riding on the arm,’ and ‘arm jobs’ referenced early taximeters that used a mechanical flag-like device.
3. A fleet owner inspired newspaper What the Hack in 1966 compared Hy Bailin, the chief organizer of the Taxi Driver Alliance, to Vladimir Lenin. While the paper does not specify its sponsors, the address on the front page, 610 West 46st Street, was the location of a major midtown fleet garage (Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. New York University).
4. Tom Robbins’ ‘Beginnings: The Night the Chairs Flew’ wrote an excellent description of the union meeting on 14 April 1971 when dissident union members tried to unseat Harry Van Arsdale. He described the frustration that drivers had about the new two-tiered contract, written from the perspective of a fleet driver. The New York Times portrayed the event differently in an article by David S. Adelman, Meeting of the Taxi Union Here Breaks up Violently, 15 April 1971, p. 25Tom Robbins’ ‘Beginnings: The Night the Chairs Flew’ wrote an excellent description of the union meeting on 14 April 1971 when dissident union members tried to unseat Harry Van Arsdale. He described the frustration that drivers had about the new two-tiered contract, written from the perspective of a fleet driver.
5. While the illegality of leasing was guaranteed by the 1974 contract, it was much more difficult to curtail mini-fleet sell-offs. The Hot Seat reported that by 1976, dime contributions by the drivers to the health and pension benefits fund had almost dropped by half. The health plan had to drop HIP in January of that year.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Richard Schlosberg
Richard Schlosberg taught Sociology at Brooklyn College. He holds a doctoral degree in Sociology from The City University Graduate Center and recently received a master’s degree in History from Queens College. His research interests are labor history and the sociology of work.