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Biju Mathew, Taxi! Cabs and Capitalism in New York City (New York: New Press 2005)
TAXI DRIVING IS a common form of work that receives little recognition from the public or attention from scholars. As a member of the organizing committee of the New York Taxi Worker Alliance, Mathew brings an insider's knowledge of the labour struggles he describes in Taxi! For research methods, the book combines recounted interviews with taxi drivers as well as fellow labour organizers, notes from observations, and analysis of various policies that impact on taxi work. The book does a first-rate job of communicating the solidarity that binds members of the New York Taxi Worker Alliance and taxi drivers more generally. Scholars and lay persons interested in labour struggles, automobilities, globalization theory, and the sociology of work will enjoy Taxi!
There are few books that focus on issues of labour struggle in the taxi industry. Able to articulate complex ideas through elegant and easy-to-read prose, Mathew conveys a sense of the many exploitative layers New York City taxi drivers must maneuver through if they are to keep themselves on the road, driving to live. For instance, until recently, drivers on average earned less than $500 but worked upwards of 72 hours in a week. This is because of the hidden costs associated with taxi driving. Drivers must lease cars from garages and brokers for $100 a day or more. The general public, as well as City administration and related regulatory bodies, fail to understand taxi drivers only take home a small fraction of what they generate in income during a shift, the majority of the money going back to the garage owners and brokers. A few lost hours stuck in a traffic jam without a fare can have dire consequences for drivers.
The exploitative relations between drivers and brokers/owners have deeper historical roots according to Mathew. Early in the 20th century New York taxis served...