Profit Uber Alles RideSharing Virtual Capital and Impacts
Profit Uber Alles ? “Ride-Sharing”, Virtual Capital and Impacts on Labour in Cape Town, South Africa. “It’s modern-day slavery. Its smart slavery”- Uber driver. Alicia Fortuin Researcher, Ph. D Candidate African Centre for Cities Digital Economy Africa Conference 2019 Oxford Internet Institute University of Oxford
§ To examine the impacts of what has been termed “Uberisation” § To get a Global Southern perspective of this “Uberisation” on labour relations and employment conditions in Cape Town § We ask, what does this rise in the gig economy, the sharing economy mean for labour relations and employment conditions in Cape Town.
§ “Uberisation” refers to the informalisation, casualisation and virtual accumulation of capital. Characterized by increased job insecurity and increased flexibility. § Methods : § - semi structured interviews with 26 Uber and Taxify drivers. § Through a case study in Cape Town.
Highly unequal city racially, sociospatially sprawled Spatial mismatch of where jobs are located versus where people actually stay Jobs are located along the Northern, Southern corridors and in the Helderberg Area. CAPE TOWN CONTEXT
§ Commission charges to high compared to rate per kilometer that riders pay § Safety and Security of drivers (which has knock on effects) All or most losses incurred due to, injury, high jacking, medical cost is the burden of the driver Uber markets itself as a technology rather than a transport or taxi company § Gendered nature of work § Information Asymmetry and Differential Bargaining Power § - many drivers do not own their own cars and go into “partnership with owners” § Drivers also do not have their own Uber slots (takes up to two years) § Partners set targets too high § Self – exploitation – driving for over 16 hours a day § Drivers are not protected by a labour contract.
§ Uber imposes rules such as 12 hour limit, 25% commission, with Taxify only 15% commission (on every trip) no limit per day Uber Taxify 25% commission off every trip for new drivers 15% commission of trips for a week (20% for older drivers. Over 5 years) Technicalities of app are better R 7 per kilometer Poor technicalities of app (now R 7. 50) R 6. 50 per kilometer (but lower commission rates made it more remunerative for drivers) Better response rate to driver/partner queries Slower response rate to driver/partner queries Uber is a more established company, it is bigger, more marketing, work Amount of work is slower on Taxify because less people know about Taxify. is more consistent and frequent. It offers more services such as Uber X, The consistency of work is slower, drivers cite marketing of Taxify as the main Uber XL and Uber Eats. Although Uber Eats may or may not be cause of this. profitable to drivers a majority said it was not worth their time. Client has to pay a cancellation fee. This protects the driver. Client cancel at anytime, without paying a cancellation fee. Detrimental to the driver.
§Transport in Cape Town § City of Cape Town – “there is a place for both Uber and Taxify in Cape Town’s transport system” (Interview, June 2018) § Diversifies transport and mobility in the city for those who can afford it. § Regulated by the issuance of Operating Licences and Professional Driving Permits
Technological solution rather than transport company – Uber and Taxify Discursively elide or deny employment relations with the drivers who use their systems. - This represents a form of “virtureal” accumulation, where the power relations and conditions involved in this “employment relation” become very difficult to contest. Drivers have begun to use Whatsapp platform and form groups to mobilise and air grievances- this has helped to organise a strike in Cape Town against Uber. – the sharing of information becomes a stepping stone to empowerment as drivers become privy to information they would not necessarily have access to, like certain Uber incentives. - Uberisations leads to a hollowing out of the formal sector, creating new forms of capital, virtual capital, - which extracts “value” from assets it doesn’t own, and labor it doesn’t manage.
- Slides: 9