TAXI RIDES TO A VIOLENT WORLD!
UBER DRIVER VIOLENCE IS STILL EXPERIENCED AS COMPLAINTS ESCALATE THE PROBLEM WITH UBER IS THAT ITS CUSTOMER SUPPORT IS INEFFICIENT
Those utilising transport Apps have experienced what one would call ‘nightmares’ during the recent past. While some, especially ladies, had it in the form of verbal abuse, the males have experienced several incidents of physical abuse. The recent incident was reported a week ago where the two users had a close call.
The extent of such incidents have discouraged customers from using the App while many have started utilising homegrown services. This is because they could at least report the incident with the hope of justice being served to them. In an earlier article titled ‘The Dark Side of Transport Apps’ the Daily Mirror shed light on how Uber generates template responses to customer queries. With that in mind the Daily Mirror spoke to more customers who have been involved in various incidents while taking a look at why there’s a tendency towards drivers getting violent.
VIOLENT ENCOUNTER
Recently, an Uber user took to social media in a comprehensive status update about what happened to him and his friend once an Uber driver discovered that it was a card payment. While he had appeared to be quite rude thereafter he had also requested them to get off the vehicle. When they both got off he had stayed there for a while and while one user was taking a video of the vehicle, the driver had come closer to them with a knife, in an attempted to stab the other. While the only weapon they had in their hand was a bottle by the time they were escaping the attack, the driver had already started smashing one of their phones; possibly thinking that the trip details weren’t saved in the device by then. The two of them had then run away and hidden at a neighbouring house. Following the incident, a complaint had been lodged at the Mirihana Police. But when the Daily Mirror contacted the Mirihana Police we were told that a case has been filed under charges of criminal intimidation and not attempted murder.
UBER NOT SUBJECT TO LABOUR OBLIGATIONS IN SL
From a legal perspective, the Daily Mirror also learned that Uber is not subject to any of the labour obligations in any of the existing labour law statutes in Sri Lanka. “So they continue to exploit labour of drivers registered with them,” opined Chamalee Semasinghe, a law student who was involved in a recent research study. “According to this research, which was more of an academic one, in the U.K these Uber drivers are provided with insurance and health benefits, minimum wage and holiday pays. Through class actions they are requesting courts to recognise them as Uber employees, rather than independent contractors, thus entitling them to welfare and legal protections available in others types of employment. But none seems to act against the parasitical practices of Uber in Sri Lanka. No court actions have been filed so far. Neither drivers nor customers have a viable mechanism to sue the company for unfair treatment by the company and violent interactions encountered by the customers,” said Semasinghe.