This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
Fin24 reports that in the last six months, e-hailing platform Bolt has permanently blocked 6,000 drivers from its platform in SA in a bid to increase compliance and improve safety on the platform.
Bolt said in a statement that blocking the drivers from the platform was part of the company's commitment to make the platform safer. The company added that the most common reasons that drivers were blocked were "noncompliance" and "safety-related matters". Bolt did not provide insight into what happened to the drivers after being blocked. Bolt and Uber are the two biggest e-hailing platforms in SA. Owing to the prevalence of violent attacks in recent years, which have tended to target women riders in particular, the platforms have taken measures to improve the safety of their services. Other safety initiatives Bolt said that it had undertaken in recent years included stringent driver photo verification, in-trip audio recordings, and a tool which diverts drivers around areas that have been identified as being dangerous. E-hailing drivers across the world and in SA have frequently voiced their concerns about their working conditions. As drivers are not technically employees of big e-hailing companies, and just operate through the platform, they are not necessarily afforded standard labour rights and bargaining power with the platform.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by William Brederode at Fin24
- See too, Bolt suspends more than 6,000 drivers over safety issues and noncompliance, at BusinessLive
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page