KYW Newsradio Team Coverage
KYW's John McDevitt reports about 100 taxi drivers in Philadelphia went on strike for about 3 1/2 hours Monday, protesting Parking Authority requirements that all vehicles with 250,000- miles or more must be retired -- and a mandatory GPS tracking installation in all cabs requuired by mid-October.
After close to four hours, the president of the Brotherhood of United Taxi Drivers, Muhamad Chughtai, called off the strike and urged drivers to get back to work and "earn a living."
PPA officials were expected to hold an afternoon meeting with union representatives to discuss the new requirements.
But KYW's Al Novack reports not all cab drivers backed Monday's strike action.
First off, there are two separate unions. One is behind the strike while the other union, The Taxi Workers Alliance, did not back the strike.
Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania spokesman Tekle Gebremnin argued against a strike now. He says it's the wrong time. He wants more talks with the Parking Authority:
"For us, no strike today. We're going to work with 1,010 drivers. The New York Alliance is behind us."
Gebremnin feels the issues can be negotiated. He also feels the public needs to know more about the issues.
The alliance has over 1000-member taxi drivers.
The Parking Authority says the city has 1,600 approved medallion cabs.
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