We have done many stories here on SM about South Asian cabbies that make a living here in America. It’s a job full of risks, and sadly one cabbie died on the job over the weekend.
The body of a taxi driver who had been shot to death was found slumped over the steering wheel of his cab Sunday morning. The Contra Costa County coroner’s office identified the driver as Musharaf Poswal, 48, of Rodeo. Officers found Poswal with multiple gunshot wounds; he was pronounced dead at the scene. [link]
As some of you may recall, I was involved in researching taxi workers in Los Angeles earlier this year. Talking to the taxi drivers was an interesting experience — many of the drivers were men my father’s age, unaccustomed to talking about their lives, yet totally welcoming of the opportunity. They lead hard lives with long hours, and of course, always with a potential risk. The report was launched last month.
The report, called “Driving Poor” and written by law professor Gary Blasi and urban planning professor Jacqueline Leavitt, paints a bleak picture of the lives of the city’s roughly 5,000 taxi drivers.The typical driver makes $8.39 an hour — less than the city-mandated “living wage” — and 61% have no health insurance, according to a survey of 302 drivers conducted as part of the study. On average, they drive 72 hours a week and show signs of extreme stress and chronic back and leg injuries, the study found. The report also found that drivers lack the protection of wage, hour and workers’ compensation laws; many own their cabs but can lose them at any time; and they retain little control over their working lives, even being told by the city what they can wear. [link]
There are proportionally far fewer South Asian taxi cab drivers in Los Angeles than I had expected – the report shows only 5% are South Asian. Surprisingly, the largest percentage of taxi drivers were born in the Middle East, 38%. [p. 18] The hundred page report gives insight into the taxi industry here in Los Angeles and is downloadable here. More importantly, this document can be used in changing and creating policies that can protect taxi workers in this industry. Let us hope that by creating reforms in the system, we’ll be able to protect the lives of more of our taxi workers.
Related Posts: Taxi Cab Confessions, Immigrant Entrepreneurs, You Talkin’ to Me?, and The Transporter.
Yesterday at the doc’s office, the Carribean nurse told me about her Indian father who used to be a cab driver in NY. I was reading Inheritance of Loss (btw, i’m loving it, it is so irreverant ). So, the nurse asked me what the book was about. I started to talk about Bijju (the HERO of IOH), wondering what her father’s job life had been like. It seemed like everything was coming together, in that strange immigrant way…..
Taz dont be such a socialist. The market will take care of these problems.
Taz, thanks for the insighful post and thorough research. I appreciate learning about the ‘plight of a cabbie’.
Great post, Taz. Reminds me of a conversation i had with a desi cab-wallah on my way to JFK from home. He talked about so many things and concluded with something like “we have to show to them that desis do a lot more than just drive cabs and do computers”. he sounded a bit enraged as he made this comment. he said he hated his job as it kept him away from spending much time with his family. i just sat wondering as i waited at the gate for my flight…..
After doing the interviews, I make it a point to get into a conversation with every cabbie I ride with. The most recent was in the Bay, when I got into this cab with Samhita. This desi cabbie picked us up, and was blasting bollywood tunes off his ipod onto his radio. We talked to him a bit- he didn’t own his cab, was leasing. and he drove for twelve hours, and someone else drove the other twelve. Most cabbies are full of pride- as “independent contractors” they don’t have a boss- they get to make their own hours – albeit, their own hours are 15 hours a day, 7/days a week. Some of them in their home countries were engineers, or educators. The saddest story though, was the interview with a Sikh man, who said he got rid of the turban and shaved his beard after 9/11. Bad for business, he said.
My fascination for the diaspora does lead to some pretty interesting conversations with desi strangers… I can often get a whole life story in a matter of a couple of question — as well as if their registered to vote, 😉 — I think SM should host a “Talk to a Desi You Don’t Know” Day….
Mujahid, I sincerely hope your comment was in fun and not seriously meant. What is more important is that who shot this guy…putting it in context of the extreme ignorance and bigotry they have to face. Of course, we dont do much better when it comes to Manipur – tne fate of “lesser” people everywhere.SHAME.
i found this post interesting, taz. when i was a undergraduate student at nyu, i took several classes related to the asian american immigrant experience. in one such class, the history of the south asian diaspora, i did a research study on the experiences (really, the plight) of south asian cab drivers in new york city. there are some really interesting documentaries out there, but i found that the one-on-one interactions were much more informative. i’ve always engaged in conversations with cab drivers (it just seems rude to me to ignore them unless they want to be ignored), but after working on that study, i can’t help but ask to hear the abbreviated life story of every cab driver i encounter.
it certainly helps to put things in perspective…and gives me even more incentive to tip an extra $5 each time.