Expanded healthcare benefits made
available to New York’s Uber, Lyft drivers
BY MARK HALLUM
The Black Car Fund is making
expanding the benefi ts
of driving for Uber, Lyft
and black car companies as a
surcharge enacted over the summer
to give drivers access to
medicine will offer more in the
coming weeks.
Black Car Fund previously
made workers’ compensation
benefi ts and free telemedicine
available to their members with a
new 3% surcharge on ride-share
customers, and the benefi ts continue
to expand to dental exams,
cleanings and vision coverage.
“The Black Car Fund continues
to lead the nation in providing
benefi ts to independent workers
at no cost to them—benefi ts that
are even more critical now during
the pandemic,” Ira Goldstein,
Executive Director of the Black
Car Fund, said. “New York’s drivers
are essential to our economy
and our recovery, and so we must
take care of them during this crisis
and beyond. Drivers deserve
access to benefi ts at no cost to
them to make sure they can work
and remain healthy, without fear
that lack of coverage will lead to
long periods of unpaid time away
from work or preventable health
PHOTO BY AGATON STROM
conditions.”
In September, the state legislature
passed a bill introduced by
Senator Diane Savino and Assemblyman
Robert Rodriguez to
raise this customer surcharge by
half a percentage point in order to
expand medical access for drivers
with no additional expense coming
out of their pockets.
The BCF has up to 125,000
members and those belonging
to other organizations such as
the Independent Drivers Guild
which represents over 65,000 in
New York City alone.
“For-hire vehicles are an essential
part of New York transportation
and I was proud to
work alongside the Independent
Drivers Guild the past two years
to expand benefi ts for the drivers
who keep our cities moving,”
Savino said. “These new health
benefi ts will bring greater security
to New York’s Uber, Lyft and
black car drivers and they are a
testament to the Drivers Guild’s
tireless advocacy efforts.”
AG James suing city, NYPD over violence, civil
rights violations during last summer’s protests
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
New York City and its Police Department
violated the civil rights of
hundreds of individuals arrested
and/or assaulted by offi cers patrolling the
George Floyd protests last summer, state
Attorney General Letitia James alleged in
a federal lawsuit fi led Thursday.
The state’s top prosecutor is taking
Mayor Bill de Blasio, Police Commissioner
Dermot Shea, NYPD Chief of Department
Terence Monahan and the NYPD to court
on claims that the department’s response to
the protests in May and June 2020 refl ected
the city’s purported failure to address a
long history of past police abuses.
James said the demonstrations put on
display “the very thing being protested —
aggressive actions of law enforcement.”
The lawsuit calls for an independent,
court-appointed monitor to be installed
to oversee NYPD responses to large-scale
protests, as well as “systemic reforms” to
ensure compliance.
De Blasio, in a statement to amNewYork
Metro, argued that the lawsuit would not
advance the city’s efforts to reform the
NYPD any faster.”
“I met with Attorney General James
Attorney General Letitia James at an Aug. 6, 2020, press conference.
yesterday and we have a common goal:
Continue to drive major police reforms,”
de Blasio said Thursday. “I couldn’t agree
more that there are pressing reforms that
must – and will – be made this year, including
the major discipline reforms announced
with my Obama Foundation pledge, all 30
of the recommendations from the DOI and
Law Department reports, and more. That
work is critical and is happening right now.
A court process and the added bureaucracy
of a federal monitor will not speed up this
work. There is no time to waste and we will
continue to press forward.”
Per a spokesperson, the NYPD provided
this statement to amNewYork Metro: “The
New York City Police Department welcomes
reform and has embraced the recent
suggestions by both the city’s Department
of Investigation and the city’s Law Department.
As the Mayor has said, adding another
layer does not speed up the process of
continued reform, which we have embraced
and led the way on.”
Thursday’s lawsuit was the culmination
of an extensive investigation by James’ offi
ce, which included the assistance of former
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch
and Barry Friedman, an NYU professor
and founder of its Policing Project.
The protests broke out across New York
City in the days following the May 25 death
of Floyd, who was choked to death under
the knee of a Minneapolis police offi cer in
an incident caught on camera. Thousands
were arrests during the New York protest,
and there were documented incidents of
police brutality — such as individuals being
violently shoved to the pavement, peppersprayed
without provocation, roughly
arrested on the ground or put in harm’s
way by NYPD vehicles traveling through
crowds.
In the aftermath of the protests, Governor
Andrew Cuomo tasked James with
conducting an independent investigation
into the police response. James heard testimony
about police brutality during several
days of virtual hearings held in June.
“What we found was an egregious abuse
of police power; rampant, excessive use of
force; and leadership unable or unwilling
to stop it,” James said.
More at amny.com
18 January 21, 2021 Schneps Media
/amny.com
