Workers in India, Argentina, and South Africa say that they are struggling to make ends meet.
In March, ride-hailing driver Charles Mayati joined hundreds of other South African drivers in a three-day strike. In Durban and Johannesburg, drivers logged off the ride-hailing apps, blocked roads, and marched to government offices to demand an end to what they said amounted to “exploitation” by the tech companies. The price of fuel was rising at the same time as their living costs were increasing, but the platforms hadn’t adjusted their fares, leaving workers struggling to make ends meet.
The drivers won a small victory. Uber agreed to hike its prices by 10%, and Bolt increased its base fares by one South African rand ($0.065) per kilometer. But within weeks, the benefits were erased by a sharp rise in the cost of fuel, which now costs 40% more than it did a year ago. “It feels like a useless protest,” Mayati, who drives for Uber and its Chinese-owned competitor Didi, told Rest of World, sitting in his car outside a mall in East Rand, a sprawling industrial hub to the east of Johannesburg.
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