Ha!
I was in a taxi last night where the driver went straight from talking about the recession to "So, what do you think about this Nigerian woman and all her lies and deception?" and generally talking like he'd swallowed a hundred copies of the Sun.
I explained FGM to him in graphic detail and asked him what he thinks of a world where 50% of the population of an entire country is so profoundly unsafe that they can, in fact, legitimately claim asylum, and that shut him up. Mostly I think he was not used to someone saying 'hacked-up vagina' quite calmly in the back of his car. I just was not gonna listen to his rant. Then I realised I'd had him before and he'd been at the Nigerians then, too. So as pleased as I was for shutting him up without getting angry, I'm sure he learned exactly nothing.
If they want to act like self-employed people but be treated like salaried workers, then why don't we offer to apply the standards of a normal workplace to their taxis? That way, they could root out the racists and thin the herd by at least 30% (because I do think the racist ranting has at least diffused in the last few years, with lots of people taking up licences).
I nominate Mormon to go smoke the bigots out.
Oh, but BTW, freelance journos have a union, although it's more for bargaining power when people aren't being paid, or paid fairly or whatever. I understand self-employed people in particular industries getting together to try to make things work more smoothly and fairly, but only a fuckin' idiot would suggest a strike. You choose self-employment, and it means no holiday pay or sick pay, and that's shit, but it also means you can take a sunny Friday off and go play with puppies on the beach.
I know I'm stepping on my own point bit here, but the worst experience I ever had in a cab was a big set to I had with a Nigerian taxi driver in Chicago.
He drove around lost for about 20 minutes, stopped at a random hotel, got out, went and asked for directions; then when he finally fund my hotel, tried to charge me the full amount on the meter, plus 50% for weekend.
When I told him to cop on he told me I should fuck off back to London, which impressed me not at all.
It ended with both of us sitting in the cab threatening to call the cops on each other.