A-Infos (en) Strike! August issue - SUPPORT THE TORONTO COALITION OF CONCERNED TAXI DRIVERS

Taxi Drivers in the city of Toronto have come together to fight back against
the anti-driver, anti-immigrantworker policies and laws that regulate their
workplace and create an immigrant job ghetto. The Toronto Coalition of
Concerned Taxi Drivers is made up of independent drivers, Taxi Post, On-time
Taxi, The Taxi Association of Toronto, and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.
The Coalition's goal is to put an end to the harassment of taxi drivers
including police targeting of cabs, random checks, and excessive ticketing.
Drivers face menacing work conditions and harassment by the city and police.
Drivers work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week and hardly make minimum wage
because the city has been able to gouge drivers of any real income.

Targeting of drivers continues to snowball, and the
stories speak volumes of i n j u s t i c e and racism.
Recently, an Irani driver was stopped by police to be given
a warning. Once the officer realized he was a Muslim, he
was given a series of by-law infraction tickets and he now
faces losing his license.
           This man has no other
way to make a living. Drivers and members of this
coalition recently protested the unfair scooping of
taxi fairs by limos in a rally at Queen's Park. Drivers
were criminally charged after this demonstration. One
driver was brutalized by police and is facing the loss
of his license. Another driver was singled out as a
taxi driver organizer by city bylaw officers and was
handed a series of illegitimate fines.
           Because of the conditions faced by drivers
daily, they cannot face these attacks alone, without
solidarity and support.
For many drivers, time in court means the loss of hard
earned income. Taxi drivers have no
choice but to do things that make them easy police
targets, just in order to make a living.
Taxi drivers have been made vulnerable and
have been treated as second class citizens, because
they are mainly an immigrant workforce. This workforce
is also the second largest revenue source for the city
of Toronto. These day-to-day realities demand support
from activists and concerned people. The Toronto
Coalition of Concerned Taxi Drivers and the efforts
of immigrant workers demanding justice need our
solidarity.
      To deal with the excessive tickets and criminal charges laid
by abusive police, we are asking for support to carry this
fight into the court rooms. This  is a financial appeal to help taxi
drivers create a Toronto Taxi Driver Defense Fund for drivers
who have been targeted by the police. The defense fund is
strictly for support of those drivers working actively with
t h e Toronto Coalition of Concerned Taxi Drivers. To
support our work donations can be made to the Ontario
Coalition against Poverty.

**please mark on your cheque that donation is for
      the "Taxi Drivers Defence Fund"**
 JUSTICE FOR DRIVERS!
      For more information or to support
    the Toronto Taxi Defense Fund contact:
        647-219-9187 / 416-721-5555
 <ocap@tao.ca> | <eaglestaxi@yahoo.ca>
             http://WWW.OCAP.CA

--------------------------
This article is from the August issue of Strike! - A newsletter of
anarchist news and commentary published in Ontario, Canada.
To download a pdf file of the newsletter go to:
http://users.resist.ca/~gidget/nefac/strike/aug_strike1.PDF

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