Taxi Rank and File Coalition.

The Taxi Rank and File Coalition (TRFC), an organized group of disenchanted members of the New York City Taxi Drivers Union, Local 3036 was formed on April 15, 1971 in response to efforts by the leadership of the union and the taxi fleet owners to ratify a contract without a membership vote. For nearly seven years, the Coalition fought for a fair contract, better working conditions and a more democratic union. Members opposed what they saw as the autocracy of the founder of the union, Harry Van Arsdale, Jr.

TRFC ran a full slate of candidates in the 1971 election, polling a consistent third of the vote throughout the city. In response to alleged corruption, the Coalition filed complaints of over thirty counts of fraud with the Department of Labor. In 1972, the union leadership agreed to binding arbitration of the 1970 contract without a ratification vote in direct violation of the union constitution. TRFC filed a federal lawsuit against the union leadership and won a 1974 court order guaranteeing membership certain rights in ratifying collective bargaining agreements. The union executive board illegally refused to hold elections for garage chairmen and committeemen in 1972 and 1973, claiming lack of funds. In 1974, after yearly appeals to the union leadership failed, TRFC presented 2,500 signatures for the restoration of the committee elections and won a favorable ruling in court. The subsequent elections were marred with irregularities. On May 14 and 15, 1974 TRFC led a strike at the Dover Garage for unfair dismissals. After the dismissed won their jobs back, TRFC fought the proposed fair hike of the Taxi Commission. The Coalition openly supported a radical ideology in the Hot Seat, and on the shop floor.

In addition to running shop elections and initiating several lawsuits against the union leadership, the Coalition focused on the internal development of their organization. TRFC established a health committee, conducted a research project into the history and economics of the industry and organized study groups on the history of the labor movement, focusing on issues pertinent to the industry, such as racism, leasing and gypsy cabs. They published a songbook of original taxi songs and developed a skit that members performed at taxi garages and demonstrations. Their newspaper, Hot Seat, ran for 44 issues with a peak circulation of 10,000.

In July of 1977, the Coalition failed to run a slate of candidates in the election and ended publication of the Hot Seat . As the size of the taxi industry fleet shrank, many members left the union to find work elsewhere and the Coalition ceased to function as a citywide organization. Members of TRFC expressed their regret for not achieving greater victories in the fight against the established leaders of the union and cited their frustrations and fatigue in the fight for a more democratic union. In the fall of 1979, Steve Seltzer and Henry Zeiger, former members of TRFC, organized a successor group, Taxi Workers against a Sellout (TWAS), which continued to oppose the union leadership by campainging their own slate of candidates in subsequent elections. TWAS filed a lawsuit against the union for violating the 1974 court order.

In 1978, the union transferred afflilation to the Service Employees International Union and became the Taxi Drivers and Allied Workers Union, Local 3036, SEIU.

From the guide to the Taxi Rank and File Coalition Records, Bulk, 1971-1987, 1956-1993, (Tamiment Library / Wagner Archives)

The Taxi Driver's Rank and File Coalition was organized on April 15, 1971 to advocate for fairer contracts and more democratic practices within the New York City Taxi Drivers Union, Local 3036.

The Taxi Drivers Union was organized in the mid-1960s with the help of the Central Labor Council and its president Harry Van Arsdale. Van Arsdale imposed a top-down approach to union administration that many of the drivers resisted. Opposition built when the union proved unable to control the daily shape-ups that allowed company dispatchers to extort payoffs from drivers and discriminate against activists. When Van Arsdale agreed to a concessionary contract in 1971, a bitter strike ensued, and his staff was run out of a union meeting. A federal judge ordered the contract brought to a vote, and it was rejected 3 -1. Leasing was a major issue. It had been outlawed when the medallion system was established in the 1930s, but the new contract allowed it on a “voluntary” basis. After six months of conflict the owners declared an impasse and implemented the rejected contract. The union failed to respond and a wildcat strike at one garage quickly petered out. These failures and division undercut whatever strength the union had.

The taxi drivers who opposed Van Arsdale's leadership organized the Taxi Rank and File Coalition. They ran a full slate of candidates in the 1971 election and received forty-two percent of the vote. Van Arsdale won re-election, but with a plurality rather than majority. The coalition filed thirty-six counts of election-fraud with the Department of Labor.

In 1974, the Rank and File Coalition presented 2,500 signatures for the restoration of the committee elections. On May 14-15 of that year the coalition led a strike at the Dover Garage for unfair dismissals. After the dismissed were given back their jobs, the Rank and File fought the proposed fare hike of the Taxi Commission. After fighting all year for committee elections, the Rank and File received a favorable ruling in court. In June, the Rank and File won a substantial victory in the election, which was marred by irregularities; a new election was ordered.

By the July of 1977, driver interest in the Rank and File Coalition had declined. It failed to run a slate of candidates in the election and ceased publication of the rank and file paper, Hot Seat . Van Arsdale had removed himself from the union in 1973, and his successor Ben Goldberg presided over the merger of the Taxi Drivers and Allied Workers Union and the SEIU in 1978.

From the guide to the Taxi Rank and File Coalition Oral History Collection, 1972 - circa 1980, (Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive)