(Photo by churl / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
NYC Yellow Taxi Drivers Set To See First Raise In A Decade
New York City’s taxi drivers will see their wages jump for the first time in 10 years, Gothamist reports, as the Taxi and Limousine Commission approves an increase in base fare from $2.50 to $3.00. The new fares are set to take effect by the end of 2022.
The fare hike will raise the average cost of a ride by about 23% while increasing driver pay by about 33%, according to the commission. Per mile and per minute rates will also increase for app-based vehicles, Gothamist notes: Uber and Lyft drivers will see their per minute rate increase by 7.8%, the first increase in this rate since 2019.
2022’s Largest Strike: California Academic Workers Seek Fair Compensation
Tens of thousands of academic workers – grad students, tutors, teaching assistants and more – are striking across the University of California system to call for increased wages, job security, childcare reimbursements and transportation benefits, among other demands. The L.A. Times reports the work stoppage, which involves an estimated 48,000 workers over 10 campuses, could be the biggest strike of academic workers in America’s history.
In other labor news: Philadelphia Museum of Art workers successfully negotiated a new contract promising better compensation after a 19-day strike, and ahead of the holidays, Starbucks workers have gone on strike at more than 100 stores across the U.S. “A lot of people don’t really notice…the humans behind this assembly,” one barista told the AP.
Arizona Wins In-State Tuition For Undocumented Students
By less than 60,000 votes, Arizona voters voted to allow undocumented students access to reduced in-state tuition rates as well as state-funded financial aid.
The passage of Prop. 308 means Arizona will now join 19 other states that allow undocumented students to access cheaper in-state tuition rates, eight of which also allow them to receive state financial aid. It’s a major move for Arizona, which, as CNN reports, was formerly one of three states that chose to specifically block undocumented students from in-state tuition.