Dilliwalas, Uber or Ola drivers are not throwing tantrums. They are fighting for their rights
If you have been annoyed with the lack of Ubers and Olacabs in your area, or are irritated because of the god awful surge prices, you need to stop for a second and analyse your privilege. Yes. Because this isn’t some tantrum Uber or Ola drivers are throwing. They are fighting for their rights.
An indefinite strike by thousands of drivers working for Uber and Ola, that has been underway since Friday, February 10, has marginally crippled a section of Delhi/NCR dwellers. The strike has caused both an acute unavailability of cabs and a steep surge in prices, if and when they are available. The drivers’ demands are simple: they want the base fare to be increased from Rs 6 a kilometre to Rs 21 a kilometre, they want accident insurance, and they want better monetary incentives. They also want the government to put a cap on the number of drivers per city.
According to a Hindustan Times report, in 2014, Delhi transport department officials claimed that there were 30,000 vehicles officially registered as Ola or Uber cabs but unofficially the figure was closer to 70,000 cars. The figure has now increased to almost one to 1.5 lakh cars with around 45,000 registered cabs.
“Our demands are not unreasonable. We used to make between Rs 80,000 and Rs 100,000 a month earlier. Now we are lucky to make R. 30,000,” said Manoj Kumar Verma, a spokesperson at the Sarvodaya Drivers Association to BuzzFeed News.
But it would seem that Uber does not feel the same way. Uber has filed a court order against the drivers’ unions in the Delhi High Court. But is Uber right in doing that? Perhaps not.
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| Uber has filed a court order against the drivers’ unions in the Delhi High Court. [Photo: Indiatoday.in] |
“A driver needs roughly Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 daily to maintain his car and family. What they end up with is around Rs 1,500. The agitating drivers say they have been fooled by these companies, which promised them earnings of close to a lakh a month but they are earning just Rs 40,000 or less. These are the first signs of revolt. This will continue if they do not stop predatory pricing and make these cabs run at a loss,” said Siddhartha Pahwa, former CEO of Meru Cabs to Business Standard.
The problem also lies in both the companies following a business model that hires more drivers than they need and having to slash down prices to keep customers satisfied, while not compromising on their profit margins. Every day, almost 50 to 60 new drivers are hired by Ola and Uber. If these companies keep on doing that, with false hopes of perks and profits, how are they to sustain their profitability? Fuel prices keep on hiking and with the supply of drivers becoming steadily greater than the demand, it is the drivers who end up bearing the brunt of this flawed business model.
“We’re sorry that our service has been disrupted and for any inconvenience this has caused. Serving riders, drivers and cities is core to our mission and we are working hard to ensure that drivers are able to get back behind the wheel and riders can get from A to B conveniently, reliably and safely,” was Uber’s official statement on the matter. Ola, has so far, not issued any.
Delhi’s transport minister Satyendar Jain, who has ordered for increased bus frequency to control the effects of the strike, told Reuters, “I am going to hear all the sides and then we will set new rules soon.”
But the way things are going, this strike is likely to not remain confined to the national capital region. Thousands of drivers working with Ola and Uber in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad said they will join the protest. Around 50,000 drivers across Bangalore, over 25,000 drivers in Hyderabad, and close to 5,000 drivers in Chennai have planned to announce a strike on February 15.
“We are focusing on a strike across major cities in south India. The minimum Rs 1 lakh monthly revenue promised to us in the beginning doesn't exceed Rs 30,000 now, and many drivers have to pay at least Rs 16,000 - Rs 18,000 on EMIs,” said Tanveer Pasha, the president of the Ola, TaxiForSure and Uber drivers' union in Bengaluru to Economic Times.
India is a hugely labour-intensive economy. And yet it is this teeming force of workers that are most exploited here. The privileged classes need to understand that the rights of the labour forces are important of the proper functioning of the economy as well as the society.
The recent sanitation strikes in January proved just how much exploitation exists in the system. The MCD Swacchata Karmchari Union had gone on an 11-day-long strike demanding payment of pending salaries and arrears, and facilities like of cashless health insurance. They ask for health insurance because the sanitation workers, for a large part, are not even provided with basic safety equipment needed around hazardous waste.
It is the failure on the part of privileged classes to understand the reasons behind, or even acknowledge these protests, is what leads to further exploitation. Is it an inconvenience for the upper-middle class and the upper class? Yes. Is this inconvenience more important that the strike? No.