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.GroundUp reports that on Tuesday, dozens of drivers from Uber, Bolt, and inDrive halted their services and marched from Hanover Street in Cape Town to the provincial legislature to protest against what they describe as exploitative practices and unfair conditions.
The drivers said they were pushing for legislative reforms to address their concerns, including enforceable limits on companies’ commission rates and vehicle safety regulations. In their view, government intervention was necessary to protect drivers. Among their demands were that drivers who had been unfairly removed from the system by employers should be reinstated; higher pay; and improved driver safety features. Moreover, e-hailing platforms should remove “unfair car age limits.” Uber recently instituted a policy requiring all vehicles on its platform to be no older than three years, meaning only 2021 models and newer are eligible to drive. The drivers said they also wanted authorities to be quicker in granting permits. The protest was the first in a series of planned actions across the province, with future dates set for 22 October, 19 November, and 24 December. Omar Parker of the Western Cape E-Hailing Association (WCEA) criticised the current system. He said members faced low earnings and the companies took an unfairly high proportion of the fare. He also claimed drivers were automatically kicked off the system if passengers complained or gave them a low rating, without a fair hearing.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Marecia Damons at GroundUp
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page