Uber drivers are set to strike on Valentine’s Day in Manchester in a row over pay.
Around 1,500 drivers are expected to walkout from 12.05am on February 13, for 48 hours, strike organisers say. They are taking the stand against Uber over a new system called ‘upfront pricing’, which they say is eating into their earnings.
However, Uber says the system was introduced to ‘improve reliability for riders’ and the company’s take-rate per trip is the same on average every week compared to the old system that saw the firm take a 25 per cent cut from every fare.
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Drivers remain unhappy at the changes introduced in October 2020, which prompted a 24-hour walkout on December 16 last year — also known as Mad Friday. Omar Abdulkafir, organising February’s strike, believes the second bout of industrial action will be ‘more effective’.
“We are working so hard every day and these people are taking so much from us,” he told the Manchester Evening News. “Many times when customers get in the car they think we make a lot of money. They think the money they give to Uber is what we get.
“When they tell you how much they pay, and how much we get, sometimes the difference is a 60 per cent deduction. It’s usually between 40 to 60 percent. Before the app [would] show you how much the customer pays and then show a 25 percent deduction.”
For its part, Uber says that the new pricing system can lead to changes in the size of its taking per trip, but it never is ‘as high as 40-60 per cent’.
It does however accept that on longer trips, which are usually popular with drivers, trip payments to drivers have been ‘slightly reduced’. That, it says, is balanced with increased payments for shorter cross-city-centre journeys, in which passengers frequently have a tough time securing a driver.
For Omar, however, he could be earning more as a minicab driver for a local firm. He continued: “All we want is a fair payment for what we are working for. It’s a very difficult job. We want fair treatment and to get paid for what we work for.
“It’s not fair to drive for 15, 16, or 17 minutes to get £4.50. To drive 15 miles for £14 is not fair. Local rates can pay you £2 per mile, with a minicab firm.”
He says the current figure of 1,500 drivers is set to grow in the next two weeks as more sign-up. He also confirmed that, like last time, they will be plying their trade on Bolt instead.
On the strike, an Uber Spokesperson said: “Upfront Pricing is designed to improve reliability for riders, which in turn helps to create more trips for drivers. Overall, Uber’s average take rate remains the same, but each trip is now based on real-time information to provide the best price to appeal to the drivers in the area.”
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