What the TWA has learned and what has been successful

Since 2005 the Taxi Workers Alliance have unsuccessfully tried to challenge the installation of Global Positioning Systems in all of the city’s cabs. The Taxi Workers Alliance has followed traditional routes of resistance through law suits, strikes, and rallies. These actions have done little to limit the control which the Philadelphia Parking Authority has exerted over the drivers (even though the results of Germantown Cab Co. v. Philadelphia Parking Authority may have large implications as it has established that the Philadelphia Parking Authority must go through appropriate processes within the state government to have their regulations approved). However, the Alliance has had some success.

Starting out as a handful of drivers with no experience organising, working with

politicians and lawyers, and launching a public relations campaign the TWA has, over the past few years, greatly improved their tactics against the

Philadelphia Parking Authority.

Everyday practices of non-compliance have been effective. Referring again to the credit card debate, the drivers attempted to oppose the GPS by refusing to accept credit card payments. They oppose the credit card system for a number of reasons (details following from Volk, 2007). First, the PPA takes a 5%

surcharge on all transactions eating into the drivers already low earnings.

Second, the Parking Authority takes sometimes weeks to process the

transactions leaving drivers without their earnings and unable to effectively budget their finances since they do not know when they will receive their pay.

The drivers also oppose the credit card machines because it can be used as another level of monitoring. The credit card system enables the Philadelphia Parking Authority to keep track of not only base earnings but tips as well. This financial information can be used during negotiations with drivers regarding fare increases .Lastly, the drivers oppose the machines because they must pay for their maintenance including the paper and ink for printing receipts. So, as the PPA makes a considerable amount of money off of the credit card machines, the drivers hoped that, by refusing to accept credit cards, they would be able to starve the system. This frustrated the PPA considerably, inspectors began to threaten drivers and give out fines for other offences to any driver refusing to accept credit cards, and the PPA issued an “executive order” demanding that all cabs accept credit cards. Those who do not are taken off the road and their vehicles seized until they agree to comply. This culminated in the stand-off at the airport mentioned above.

While the drivers are now forbidden to outright refuse to allow customers to pay by credit card, they manage to limit how many passengers pay by credit card.

Drivers who are opposed to the system often claim that the credit card machines are broken (Volk, 2007). Also, as the passengers are essentially a captive

audience for the duration of the trip many drivers use this opportunity to explain the situation. TWA President Ronald Blount claims that after doing so hardly anyone ever still insists on paying with credit card (Volk, 2007). The drivers have begrudgingly gone along with the systems and the orders but have managed to circumvent the intentions of the Philadelphia Parking Authority through their everyday practices of resistance.

In regards to their public relations campaign to garner support for their cause they have, unfortunately, also discovered that the public was not terribly concerned about the increased surveillance put upon drivers. However, the drivers were more successful in gathering negative attention to the Philadelphia Parking Authority. From the drivers highlighting concerns regarding the

legitimacy of the Philadelphia Parking, Mayor Michael Nutter’s demanded a public financial audit of the Philadelphia Parking Authority in 2007 (General Assembly of Pennsylvania, 2007). As the Philadelphia Parking Authority is hated by residents all too familiar with finding a boot on their vehicle the TWA successfully increased media and political pressure upon the Authority even if their personal concerns over the extensive monitoring was not the focus of the attention. The TWA discovered that they could apply pressure upon the Parking Authority and create a public debate on the control which the PPA wields in the city even if, again, the focus was not on their specific concerns and conflict with the Parking Authority. They learned to more effectively interact with the media

and the government. While they may have initially hoped to have launched a well publicised confrontation with the Parking Authority the TWA found that to be very difficult. The PPA found it easy to deflect the discussions back upon the drivers where the surveillance measures were concerned. The Parking Authority gathered public support by portraying the taxicab drivers as dishonest and created a sentiment that the industry needed to be more strictly monitored in order to protect the consumer. Again, the plans for cleaning up the industry was to make it more palatable and amiable for the consumer. The focus of the debate was on consumer satisfaction rather than on the rights of the workers. By

shifting the criticism back upon the Parking Authority in the way that it has the TWA has followed the Parking Authority’s own approach. The emphasis is put back upon the consumer who demands financial accountability from the government organisation. The focus is on how the Philadelphia Parking Authority has wasted the residents money and how the city’s public schools have suffered as a result. The Taxi Workers Alliance has effectively used the Philadelphia Parking Authority’s own strategies to their advantage.

The Taxi Workers Alliance discerned after their years of efforts that they needed to move the debate from one which focused on their own ‘personal troubles’ to one that moved the debate into the broader context of ‘public issues’ (Mills, 1959). Many residents of Philadelphia will remain apathetic to an issue as long as they did not feel that it affected them directly. The TWA managed to shift the focus of their complaints onto an issue that was more palatable for the wider public. Additionally, they needed to simplify the message. Motivating the public against the increased surveillance measures was difficult because it could not be summarised briefly. To speak to the public about the propriety of their driving

patterns isn’t likely to get much support. A driver who explains how he does not like being followed because he feels like a second class citizen will find many who are sympathetic but also many who are still comforted by the fact that the driver will not being able to rip them off by taking circuitous routes because they have succumbed to the stereotype of cab drivers perpetuated by the Philadelphia Parking Authority.

While the drivers found a more effective route for motivating the public against the Philadelphia Parking Authority it is unfortunate that the debate was shifted away from the surveillance debate as this is an issue that residents will have to face sooner or later as the city government continues to introduce new

surveillance measures. There is the need for a public debate in Philadelphia on whether or not increased surveillance is the best plan for the city in its attempts to revitalise. The introduction of GPS and the Taxi Workers Alliances dedicated efforts against the plan presented an opportunity for the city to engage in an intelligent and concerned dialogue over the future of not just Philadelphia but of all the other cities whose governments are carefully watching how things play out in Philadelphia. The Taxi Workers Alliance is an admirable and increasingly rare example of individuals who have attempted to raise awareness over the effectiveness, legality, and justification for the implementation of surveillant systems. The group raises important issues and has becoming increasingly adept at articulating these issues. It is a shame that the issue appears to be fading from the public debate and that a system will remain which all parties understand to be deeply flawed, even if that admission is begrudgingly (see Ney, 2009 for the PPA perspective).

The TWA were confronted with the difficulty of how to express opposition to a system which many supported. They struggled to explain how they were not against all GPS and were, rather, just opposed to the system put in place and the way it was introduced. Additionally, they found it difficult to get passengers to understand the problems with the monitoring when the passengers generally supported the monitoring as they believed the hype that it would protect the consumer. Focusing on the privacy aspects and pointing out that the

government would know when passengers went to a strip club could also come across as paranoid hysteria. As Chapter 5 in this thesis discusses, surveillance systems are often supported and privacy claims discounted. The TWA struggled to articulate their opposition because it is more difficult to express than more traditional labour grievances. It is easier to form an opinion on dangerous working conditions or low wages than it is to form an opinion on a surveillance system which is seen to have plenty of advantages even if there are some

disadvantages. This controversy highlights the continuing need for an informed and thoughtful discussion over the implementation of surveillance measures.

As the situation now stands the Global Positioning Systems remain in the city’s cabs and the drivers continue to be forced to pay for their maintenance.

However, the Philadelphia Parking Authority admits that there are problems with the systems and that the data gathered from the monitoring is not

necessarily accurate. The Philadelphia Parking Authority is involved in a dispute with the vendor, Taxitronic, regarding the needed improvements to the systems.

The Parking Authority has only paid Taxitronic half the sum which was agreed upon and refuses to pay the rest until the problems with the systems are fixed.

Taxitronic, conversely, refuses to fix the systems until they receive the other half

of the payment. The two continue to argue while the taxicab drivers are stuck with the machines in their cabs. They are forced to use a system which everyone understands is flawed. When the systems crash the drivers lose fares and

neither Taxitronic nor the Philadelphia Parking Authority are likely to

reimburse the drivers for this loss of income. If the artist Jill Magid (discussed in Chapter 6) refers to CCTV cameras as “gargoyles emptily representing safety”

then the GPS in the cabs in Philadelphia can be seen as fuzzy dice emptily representing efficiency (Zacks, 2003). Unfortunately, even though the GPS is plagued with flaws there are proposals for similar systems emerging in cities across the United States.