The State-level strike by drivers of online taxis demanding minimum wages and lessening of commission of over 26% charged by online taxi firms was called off on Friday following a meeting convened here by Labour Commissioner A. Alexander.
Demands
Drivers’ unions were on strike for over a fortnight, while a leader of the Samyukta Samara Samity — a conclave of nine unions — was on a hunger strike before the Ernakulam Collectorate raising various demands.
The other demands raised by unions included convening of a meeting by the Minister for Transport with representatives of taxi and online taxi car unions to find a lasting solution to issues in the sector, halting of the practice of not giving agreed-upon wages to drivers and ousting of drivers from service without notice, initiation of steps against a firm that rolled out its own taxi cars in violation of the aggregator policy, and stopping firms from ‘pressurising’ drivers to operate ‘illegal’ share and pool taxi trips.
The strike was withdrawn after online taxi firms agreed to consider the demands of agitating unions before a second round of meeting that would be convened by Labour Commissioner on January 10, says a press release issued by a striking union.
Govt. lauded
Officials of online taxi firms and trade union representatives led by CITU State secretary K.N. Gopinath participated in Friday’s meeting. The union leaders cited this as a rare instance of a State government intervening in a strike by online taxi drivers after hearing their grievances.
A report on increasing wages and incentives to drivers, based on cost of living in cities in the State and the steep hike in price of fuels have to be submitted by online taxi firms to the Regional Joint Labour Commissioner, Ernakulam, before December 30. “We will embark on another agitation if our demands are taken lightly,” said Shajo Jose, secretary of Online Cab Drivers’ Association.
President of Online Taxi Drivers’ Union T.R.S. Kumar said that provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act can be invoked if a driver works continuously for at least 240 days with any firm. A tribunal order is awaited this month-end on online taxi drivers. Charging of 26% commission is nothing but exploitation, he said.
In the meantime, an official of an online taxi firm said that it has hiked rates by 20% to 25% from Friday, following the Labour Commissioner’s meeting. “Since commuters would have to pay more, it may affect the demand for online taxis. We charge 20% as commission, while 5% is levied as GST,” he said.
No mechanism
Following a meeting with driver unions here in November, Transport Commissioner K. Padmakumar had said that there is no system at the government level to regulate the sector since firms rely on their own software to operate trips. The Transport Department will also recommend formulation of an online taxi policy and constitution of a commission to study issues. The views of the members of the public too will be taken into account, he added.