Higher earning, early call for second strike may have led to failure
What worked for two weeks in February fizzed out even before starting on Tuesday. The re-run of the Ola-Uber strike hit a brick wall of sorts as the drivers prioritized clearing EMIs over a collective protest.
Two months ago, Pradip Rawat, an Ola driver, lost out on nearly ₹30,000 when he joined the strike organised by OlaUber drivers’ union Sarvodaya Drivers Association of Delhi (SDAD). The protest, he claims, did not increase a rupee in his daily earning, but left him with a month of unpaid car instalment.
“My earnings have just begun to get normal after that strike and in no way can I disturb that by joining in today’s (Tuesday’s) protest. Not working even for a day means losing out on ₹1,500 at least,” he said.
The strike in February nearly crippled the people of DelhiNCR which has almost 1.5 lakh of these cars plying on the roads.
A number of drivers Hindustan Times spoke to said even if the money is just enough to survive, they are “better off” than their previous jobs.
“The kaali-peeli taxi that I used to drive before getting into this job didn’t used to give me even ₹30,000 a month at times. Now I earn anywhere between ₹30,000 to ₹60,000,” said Mohammad Ajmal, a driver who shifts between Ola and Uber.
A softness of sorts has set in among the drivers also because of the small gestures shown by Ola and Uber. The companies surely have learnt their lessons after the backlash from drivers.
Sources said since February Ola has begun to give awards to drivers for achieving various milestones. “Anybody who gets five-star rating or behaves well is called to Ola office and awarded,” said a source.
Tuesday’s flop protest has made the SDAD and two other unions, who joined them, wonder about what went wrong.
“Our drivers suffered a lot on the financial front. We should have let a few more months pass and then renew the movement,” said Ravi Rathod of SDAD.