Group Calls For 2-Day Strike By New York Taxi Drivers,

Friday, August 24th 2007, 2:12 pm

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ An advocacy group representing more than half of New York City taxi drivers called for a two-day strike next month to protest new technology requirements, but other taxi groups oppose the strike.

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance fears the Global Positioning System required in cabs starting this fall would be used to track drivers. The group also is concerned about the fees drivers would pay for credit card processing.

``We are ready, willing and able to walk out,'' the alliance's executive director, Bhairavi Desai, said Thursday.

The city's Taxi & Limousine Commission is requiring all 13,000 city cabs to have touchscreens and GPS installed as the cabs are due for inspection, starting Oct. 1.

The technology will let passengers pay by credit card, check on news stories, map their taxi's location and find restaurant and entertainment information. The commission says the GPS could help recover lost property.

The alliance, which counts more than 8,400 members but is not a labor union, called for drivers to idle their taxis Sept. 5-6. But other driver groups aren't supporting it.

``It's not called for. It's unfounded and it's unfair,'' said Fernando Mateo, a spokesman for the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, which represents many livery cab drivers.

Four other taxi groups, together representing the drivers of about 10,000 cabs, also released a statement opposing any strike.

The Taxi Workers Alliance organized a one-day strike in 1998 that caused headaches for many residents and tourists and had city officials hustling to line up buses and vans.