Uber drivers to protest low pay, unsafe work after leaks

tech.hindustantimes.com:

For South African activist Sechaba Lehana, this week's slew of Uber leaks confirmed his worst fears: the taxi app knew full well the risks that drivers ran and put its profits before their well-being.

The mass of emails, memos and presentations revealed by the Guardian - spanning four years and 40 countries - showed that Uber knowingly flouted laws, duped police and exploited violence against vulnerable drivers as it lobbied governments for access.

In South Africa, where violent crime is rife, at least six drivers on the Uber platform have been killed on the roads since 2016, and hundreds robbed, hijacked, set on fire, shot at or stabbed, according to a tally kept by drivers.

Still, drivers were desperate for work in a country with one of the world's highest unemployment rates. There are some 20,000 drivers on the platform now.

"It's quite shocking," Lehana said of the Uber expose.

"All our suspicions have been confirmed - there was underhandedness and a messing around with people's livelihoods," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

In South Africa, Uber knew it exposed its drivers to grave risk, even rewarding those who took dangerous routes, and persisting with cash payments that turned drivers into a target for criminals, the investigation showed.

"It's unremorseful profiteering ... and there are fatherless families out there right now because of it," said Lehana.

In response to the investigation, Uber said that it "will not make excuses for past behaviour that is clearly not in line with our present values."

Drivers for Uber Eats in South Africa, many of them migrants, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation last year that they drove without training or safety equipment, and were unaware of - or had insufficient insurance