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Video: Security Guards and Taxi Drivers Join Together
by
Media Mobilizing Project | 09.08.2007
On Wednesday September 5th, under leadership of the TWA-PA, Taxi Drivers of Philadelphia went on a 24-hour strike to protest the faulty GPS system in their cabs. On the same day, at noon security officers from Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania led 100 protesters at the Bell Tower in the middle of Temple’s campus in a rally to make their case for five paid sick days. They are hoping to pressure Temple president Anne Weaver Hart to in turn put pressure on Allied Barton, the security company headed by Revlon owner Ronald Perelman. Allied Barton subcontracts security officers for both Temple and Penn as well as a number of other locations around the city. Perelman is also a contributor to both universities.
Video of the Strike and Rally | Photos of the Strike and Rally
In conjunction with the cabbie strike in Philadelphia, the NYTWA led a strike in New York City. Interview with Bhairavi Desai director of New York TWA | NYC Indypendent Coverage of New York Cabbies
Past Coverage of TWA PA: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Past Coverage of the Security Guards: We Are Marching for our Penn Guards
From the Newswire: Message from JWJ | Support of TWA
 Thomas Robinson, a security guard on Penn’s campus and a student at Temple, talked about the a growing sector of insecure labor in Philadelphia, as represented by the security guards and taxi drivers, large numbers of whom are community members in North, West, and South Philadelphia neighborhoods. Khalif Dobson of the Philadelphia Student Union drew a connection between the low quality of education in many public schools, and the kinds of jobs that are available to Philadelphia public school graduates. “We don’t want to be fighting for better wages all our lives,” he remarked. The demonstrators then marched, singing to Hart’s office, hoping to deliver demands and supportive petitions on behalf of the security guards to the president and to schedule a meeting. While chanting outside, those gathered were informed that both the president and her scheduler were on vacation and no one was available inside Sullivan Hall. Groups representing included: Philadelphia Student Union, The Student Labor Action Project, UNITE-HERE, Juntos-a Mexican immigrant community group, TWU Local 290, Jobs with Justice, The Coalition of Labor Union Women, AFSCME Local 2187 and the Media Mobilizing Project. As part of the taxi drivers strike, shortly after 2 PM yesterday about Following Blount a host of drivers came out and made their case regarding the difficult lives of drivers and the problems with the PPA and the GPS system. At this point, taxi drivers were joined by a host of groups across the city. Members of the UNITE-HERE Justice Committee, Philadelphia Student Union, and security guard Thomas Robinson all spoke out in support of the taxi drivers. Echoing the words of one of the student leaders of the Philadelphia Student Union, Khalif, as well as Thomas Robinson, Blount declared at the end of the rally: "This is not just about taxi drivers, this is about all outsourced and unfairly treated workers in the city. The is the face of new labor in the city. We will join together and we will be back."
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Comments
Taxi Drivers & Racial Profiling
Submitted by http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/2 (not verified) on Sat, 09/22/2007 - 9:28pmOf interest
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