Face of Nation : The Transport Workers Union says drivers are now struggling to pay rent and support their families after Uber Eats changed its app system to preference the quicker cyclists and scooter riders over car drivers. The TWU’s figures are based on an online survey of 67 Uber Eats car drivers in Sydney, Melbourne and Geelong.
Uber Eats drivers have descended on NSW parliament claiming many have suffered devastating losses when the company allegedly began preferencing cyclists and scooter riders for food deliveries.
Drivers said on average they were waiting 80 minutes for deliveries – up from 11 minutes previously – and earning $13 an hour. The TWU says the changes were made without warning, meaning drivers were suddenly left without the income they relied on.
But the union said it did not have figures on whether cyclists and scooter riders are making more money as a result of the alleged changes. While Uber says drivers’ pay structure has not changed, it did not address whether its app preferences riders.
An Uber spokesman on Tuesday noted that the TWU based its claims on a survey of 67 people. “We have 80,000 driver and delivery partners in Australia,” he said in a statement to AAP.
Labor Senator Tony Sheldon – a former national secretary of the TWU – joined drivers marching to Macquarie Street where they delivered a letter outlining their concerns to the Labor opposition’s gig economy spokesman Daniel Mookhey.
“This company is turning around and exploiting hard-working Australian workers with no obligation put on them by the government, which means the Silicon Valley billionaires are screwing hard-working Australians and that’s got to stop,” Senator Sheldon told the crowd on Tuesday.
Susannah – who didn’t want to use her last name fearing reprisals – has been driving for Uber Eats for three years after her husband was injured in a workplace accident and couldn’t return to work. “It’s been hard, really hard, I’m struggling with anxiety and depression,” she told reporters.
“I’ve gone from being able to rely on a certain amount of money every week. I used to do about 100 deliveries a week (but) I’m down to about 60 now.” The 49-year-old says it unexpectedly became more difficult for her to get jobs in the suburb where she lives.
She’s been forced to drive up to 100 kilometres away and wait hours to receive an order. “I used to earn $1000 a week … now I’m lucky to even hit $700 as an average,” she said. It’s obvious cyclists and scooter riders are being preferred over car drivers because when it rains her wages double, Susannah said.
“You get to the end of the week and you go ‘OK you can live with what you earned, I can budget that’s fine’,” she said. “Then Monday rolls around and that anxiety starts all over again.” Data the TWU collected in January 2018 claimed three in four drivers earn effective hourly pay rates well below the minimum wage for casual workers.
Uber on Tuesday denied changes to the calculation of deliverers’ potential earnings. “There have been no changes to the way delivery partner earnings are calculated, which continues to include a pick-up fee, drop-off fee and a per-kilometre distance calculation,” it said in a statement.
