[Note: This is Stef Cannon posting here today, as guest-blogger for the week while Tasini finally takes a vacation.]

And the good news keeps rolling in. Today the NY Times reports that the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, with its 7,000 members, will join the New York City Central Labor Council The taxi drivers, who work 60-70 hours a week and earn around $30,000, hope for assistance in obtaining health and disability coverage, among other things.

This is an important step toward improving conditions for immigrant workers, as the Taxi Workers becomes the “first immigrant workers’ group nationwide to affiliate with a central labor council.”

Ed Ott, the labor council’s executive director, said his group was eager for the taxi drivers to join because organized labor wants to strengthen its ties with immigrant workers’ groups.

[snip] “For us, this is a big deal,” Mr. Ott said. “This is an important organization in this city. We want to refocus our immigration work on organizations that really have the potential to become unions and are leading immigrant workers to organized labor.”

As the War on Immigration (like the War on Christmas, a fictional Rovian device meant to inflame reactionary voters) is still on, it’s great to see a healthy, practical response begin to take shape. Best of luck to the Taxi Workers! Welcome!

~Stef