TWU Local 100, the largest transport workers union in the country, is rallying in support of pedicab drivers threatened by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to ban pedicabs from the most lucrative areas of Central Park, south of 86th Street. The mayor’s proposal also seeks to reduce the number of horse-drawn carriages and relocate their stables from the West Side. Local 100 President John Samuelsen criticized the plan, dismissing it as not genuinely concerned with animal welfare but rather as a move that harms vulnerable, often immigrant, workers to benefit the mayor’s campaign donors. The union has pledged to help pedicab drivers by organizing them, providing training, legal advice, and other forms of assistance, marking a significant step in giving these workers a voice and strong backing against the proposed changes.
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