Public Employee Press

DC 37 celebrates Asian Heritage

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Hundreds of members and guests gathered at the union May 18 to celebrate Asian Heritage. The audience enjoyed musical and dance performances, the cuisine of many countries and speeches by leaders of DC 37 and the Asian community.

“We have always brought a high standard of education and ideals that has been embraced by others,” said DC 37 Treasurer and Local 1407 President Maf Misbah Uddin, a native of Bangladesh, who chairs the DC 37 Asian Heritage Committee.

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts welcomed participants, noted that 800,000 Asians live in the city, and argued that the community should be better represented at the ballot box.

Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, spoke passionately against the exploitative working conditions and paltry pay of the largely immigrant taxi labor force, which includes thousands of drivers from Asia.

The TWA is affiliated with the New York City Central Labor Council. Its 7,500 members generally take home $100 to $130 a day. Desai called the taxi industry a “mobile sweatshop,” because it considers its low-paid workers independent contractors with no bargaining rights. The low pay of the immigrant drivers and the downward pressure on the wages of other U.S. workers are partly attributable to globalization, Desai said.

Taxi drivers have the nation’s most dangerous job, she said, citing U.S. Labor Dept. statistics. They are 60 times more likely than other workers to be killed on the job, she said.

A member of the alliance with three daughters was assaulted in 2005 and remains in a coma. “We know that happened because of the color of his skin and his car,” Desai said.

The labor movement must “build a movement of true solidarity, and that means overcoming racism. A worker is a worker,” she said.

Other speakers and honorees included Local 375 Secretary Ahmed Shakir, who serves with Uddin on the executive board of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance; Kam Wong, head of the Municipal Credit Union; and Nehru Cherukupalli, interim executive director of the Asian American/Asian Research Institute.

Meera Kabadi and Susan Wong were the evening’s emcees, and Asian Heritage Committee Co-chair Bhagwatie Dwarika coordinated the event with the support of committee members.

Performers included stand-up comic Anu Raagz Kair, the Songhee Lee Dance Company, Omna Ancient Art Dance School, the Bangladesh Institute of Performing Arts, Thai dancer Thanchanok Chantanapokul and Chinese fan dancers Candace Denise Fung and Chi-Zhou Yang.