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Taxi drivers vow to shut down LAX. The national call for a May 1 “Great American Boycott of 2006: No Shopping, No School, No Work” to demand full rights for immigrant workers and their families is gathering momentum. Organizers have likened the action to the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott of 1955. May 1 is celebrated in many immigrants’ home countries as a day to commemorate the working class struggle and is marked with marches and rallies worldwide. In Los Angeles, taxi drivers have vowed to shut down LAX airport and trogueros (truck drivers) will be closing the harbor. Demonstrations are being planned in large and small cities throughout the country, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. Many small businesses, particularly in the Mexican community, will be closed.

Taxi drivers unite against attempt to take away workers' comp. Arizona taxi drivers are asking the governor to quash a bill that will make them ineligible for workers' compensation if they suffer an on-the-job accident. The legislation exempts taxi companies from paying for workers' compensation insurance for its drivers who are independent contractors. Mansa Massaquoi, a driver from Tempe and the president of United Taxi Workers at Sky Harbor International Airport, said he suspects the governor will again reject the legislation. "The governor has vetoed this before; I'm not worried," he said. Driver Sam Hassan is hopeful it won't become law. "Our goal is to be protected" by the cab companies in case of a work injury, he said. He was out of work two weeks with no way to earn money when he was injured in a work-related accident 13 years ago. He also paid his own medical bills while the cab company paid the bills of his passenger. Today a similar accident would wipe him out financially because he has a family to support, he said.

$425,000 for a medallion! New York's best-performing economic engine appears to be the yellow taxicab. Rich returns are embedded in the metallic medallions affixed to hoods and bodies of the city's taxis - which hit a record high this past week of $425,000 each. In just five years, the gritty medallion's value has soared 70 percent, far outstripping the returns of stocks and bonds during that time. Besides creating windfalls for enterprising owner-drivers, soaring medallion values are gaining new interest among other investors due to low-risk payoffs of virtually tax-free income.