The Medallion is a Human Right and a Labor Right, Not A Privilege or a Favor.
Under the umbrella of United States Bill of Rights and the Antitrust Law, Fifth and, Fourteenth Amendments and Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution as well as The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights of the United Nations, we the people of the United States of America seek equal rights in the transportation industry.
Therefore, deregulate taxi-cab medallions and the entire taxi-cab industry similarly to the airlines, trucking and railroad industries. Deregulation will lower taxi-cab fares, increase competition, allow more economically disadvantaged individuals to ride taxi-cabs and bring better vehicles on the road such as eight passenger seat hybrid vehicles.
Medallion is not a stock or a piece of real estate or an equipment or a consumer good or an industrial good. It is the name of the permit for taxi-cabs and the name of the for-hire license registration for taxi-cab vehicle. Owning a taxi-cab medallion is a human right and a labor right. This right belongs first to taxi-cab drivers, not investors. It is the only way to bring well-equipped vehicles on the street and to guarantee a strong public transportation system.
Local governments should not be in the businesses of selling permits which we call “medallions” for taxi-cabs.
The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights States:
Article 23.
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27.
(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28.
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29.
(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30.
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
In short, taxi-cab drivers are self-employed. They should be entitled to use their operator or chauffeur or hack license as their medallion number. The medallion and its vehicle should be protected and not subject to seizure for collection on any lawsuit.
Finally, in order to prevent too many taxi-cabs on the road, the licensed vehicle should be operated only by the taxi-cab driver it was assigned to be used countywide, Taxi Labor Rights Violation.
Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair. “George Washington”
We have a great dream. It started way back in 1776 and God grant that America will be true to her dream. “Martin Luther King. Jr.”
The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class - it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity. “Anna Julia Cooper”
