Tens of thousands of rideshare drivers across Australia refused to pick up passengers for transport giant Uber on Monday morning as part of strike action over poor pay and safety concerns.
Ride Share Drivers United (RSDU) want Uber to stop using upfront pricing and go back to paying drivers for the actual time and distance travelled.
They also want the company to let drivers opt-out of UberPool without penalties and increase UberX rates by at least 15% if they have to pick up more passengers at multiple stops.
“The issue we raise is countrywide and mostly in Melbourne and Sydney,” Max, spokesman for the group, said.
“Current base fares in Melbourne are too low and leave very little take-home profit for drivers after calculating all car expenses and, most importantly, fast car- value depreciation,” the RSDU said.
Drivers were urged to log off between 6.30am and 5pm. An RSDU spokesman said it was a very successful protest, with between 1000 and 1500 drivers taking part.
“We pretty much achieved what we wanted to achieve: more attention to our cause,” he said.
The spokesman said drivers were working between 12 and 16 hours a day, which was a safety issue. He said the RSDU had public support and the group was getting bigger, yesterday’s action being its third successful strike.
Ride Share Drivers Association of Australia secretary Les Johnson said the association did not have an excellent relationship with Uber but queried how successful the protest was, given few full-time drivers work on Monday.
An Uber spokesman said the company had more than 18,000 Melbourne drivers and saw steady and consistent reliability and availability of cars yesterday.
“Uber never consults drivers. Uber needs to bring prices to sustainable levels.” He said customers should not have to bear the brunt of the increased payments for drivers, rather Uber should cut back its commission on rides.
>Juthy Saha
