Online taxi drivers hold protest in Kerala

Kochi: A section of online taxi drivers on Monday started an indefinite hunger strike before the Uber office here alleging that mobile-app based taxi aggregator is targeting the union leaders by blocking their device. The All Kerala Online Taxi Drivers Union, which claims to have nearly 1500 members, also threatened to start an indefinite off line strike from November10. “The Uber management is selectively targeting union members after we protested against exploitation of drivers on October 16. They block our device and prevent us from getting hire requests from customers, resulting in no wages,” said T.R.S. Kumar, president, while inaugurating the protest before the company office at Palarivattom.

Earlier on October 16, the union members had protested, raising various demands including an end to the company attaching increasing number of cars without any rational basis and recognizing the online drivers as workers among others. The company had rejected all the demands. Meanwhile, the union also lambasted the rising attacks against online taxi drivers by the traditional auto and taxi drivers in Thriuvananthapuram. “Earlier there was a court order directing the government to take all measures to ensure safety of online taxi drivers. However, the incidents of attack against us are on the rise. We’ve decided to file contempt of court case before the high court,” Kumar said.