San Diego won’t allow cab drivers with bad body odour
For most of is, bad body odour is a universal no-no, but these taxi drivers are contesting this saying that being subjected to a body odour test is prejudice and discriminatory.
This all went down after a new ”rule” was put into place which sees the cab drivers of a San Diego airport undergoing ”body odour tests” in order to work from the airport.
A spokesperson from the airport stated that a driver who is found to be particularly odiferous is asked to leave and change clothes before driving another customer.
San Diego’s United Taxi Workers union says the policy perpetuates the stereotype that immigrant taxi drivers smell bad. What do you think of this situation?
Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the 18,000-member New York Taxi Workers Alliance called San Diego’s policy dehumanizing. A 2013 survey of cab drivers in San Diego showed that 94% were immigrants, and nearly two thirds are from East Africa.
Do you think this is prejudice against a certain ethnic group, or do you think it’s merely a way of ensuring that passengers don’t have to endure unbearable body odour when taking a taxi?