E-hailing drivers to forge ahead with national shutdown from Tuesday
Drivers at several e-hailing services are set to embark on a three-day national shutdown from Tuesday.
The shutdown will include drivers at Uber Eats, Bolt, Uber, and associated services.
Vhathuka Mbelengwa, who is a spokesperson for Unity in Diversity, says they expect some 50 000 people to join the shutdown in Gauteng.
Unity in Diversity is an organisation representing workers at the various e-hailing services .
“It is over three days, some days other people may participate other days they may not participate,” Mbelengwa said on Friday.
“But I think by Thursday we will have gained full momentum and there will be no industry action at all. So, everybody will be offline come 24 March. Whether you are Uber, Uber Eats, Mr. Delivery. There will be no food nor parcel delivery. We are saying they can never profit at the cost of our exploitation.”
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Some of the demands by the workers include improved earnings in the midst of petrol hikes, an end to exploitation and the safety of all e-hailing drivers and riders.
The strike action will take place next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
On Tuesday, marchers will convene at the Marabastad’s Old Putco depot to hand over a memorandum at the Union Buildings.
Wednesday the march will convene at the Johannesburg Zoo Lake and march to the offices of Gauteng Transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo.
The final day of the strike action will be Thursday, when all e-hailing services will be shut down to prevent the companies from generating any income.
