Digital taxi drivers in Kenya have reason to hope for better days after the Ministry of Labor promised to consider a historic ruling made by the United Kingdom Supreme Court requiring Uber to recognize its drivers as employees.
Labor Cabinet Secretary(CS) Simon Chelugui on Tuesday, February 23, addressed the matter while addressing the plight of striking Uber drivers who have protested the working conditions set by the multinational.
Chelugui said the UK ruling was not binding on Kenya but stated that the Kenyan government was reflecting on what aspects of the ruling it could impact.
The Kenyan drivers, like their counterparts in the UK, want the government to put in place measures recognizing them as workers and not independent contractors.
The Labour CS noted that appropriate regulations to guide the digital employment sector in Kenya have not been developed.
"The ruling in London on Friday, does not apply to our jurisdiction. We can only reference, it can only persuade us, but we cannot act on it as a country, "said Chelugui.
"The labor laws on internet based services have not been properly developed and we will need an engagement as a ministry to develop regulations and guidelines on how to run such an economy.”
On Friday, the UK's highest court dismissed an appeal by Uber in case where a lower court ruled that its drivers should be recognized as workers with access to the minimum pay and paid leave.
The ruling sent shockwaves around the world as the jurisprudence could be adopted in other countries and change the entire model of how digital taxi services operate.
Uber and other digital taxi businesses treat their drivers as independent contractors.
A few days after the ruling, Uber taxi drivers in Nairobi took to the streets protesting over poor working conditions and also claimed that the government had ignored them far too long. The drivers expressed the challenges they are facing, saying that they are running bankrupt and their cars have been auctioned owing to their poor financial stability.
The drivers, during their protest sought to acquire benefits entitled to employees such as enhanced payment terms, statutory benefits like NHIF (National Hospital Insurance Fund) and NSSF (National Social Security Fund) and work-injury compensation.
Speaking to the media in Nairobi, on February 22, Secretary-General to the Digital Partners Society (DPS) Wycliffe Alutalala said, "As the driver community, we have been very patient with the government as it tells us that these are new technologies. Six years down the line, we believe the industry is no longer new and the application owners can’t continue minting billions as drivers take home nothing.”
“This ruling in the UK affirms what we have always been saying. Digital taxi drivers are workers and not independent contractors as purported by the owners of the application,” he said.
“We call on the government to follow in the UK footsteps and give drivers their rights," Alutulala added.
