Rising fuel prices put ride-hailing drivers at a loss – Fairwork report

A 2022 Fairwork report has disclosed that ride-hailing drivers in the country are struggling to make ends meet due to rising inflation, fuel price hikes and poor working conditions.

It said many of them struggle with everyday expenses and have to work longer hours to maintain a decent living standard.

The report was put together by researchers from the University of Ghana Business School and University of Oxford, and also noted that platform workers or ride-hailing drivers – drivers with apps such as Uber, Bolt and Jumia Food among others – in Ghana “face poor pay, dangerous working conditions, unfair contract terms, poor platform management structures, and an inability to organise and bargain collectively”.

Presenting the report’s findings, Country Manager for Fairwork Ghana, Dr. Joseph Budu, said the drivers, on average, run at a daily loss.

“From the issues presented, we have done some calculations to show that workers are indeed not well off when it comes to platform work. If you take an average earning of GH¢350 a day, a driver making such an amount buys fuel of GH¢160 – not even half a tank as of today. The driver will pay the car owner GH¢75 a day and the platform will take their commission of 20 percent or 25 percent (GH¢87) in some cases,” he said, adding that if the driver buys airtime and bundles to connect with the app, coupled with maintenance and other miscellaneous costs, the total expenditure will amount to GH¢462 – though he only made GH¢350 that day.

The report was based on desk research and interviews with workers and managers using the ten platforms in Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi between May and October 2022.

The 10 platforms include: The Black Ride, Glovo, Swift-Wheels, Bolt, Uber, Jumia Food, Bolt Food, InDriver, Feenix and Yango; each were scored against five principles to assess whether they provided basic labour standards.

Earning below minimum wage

On the principle of Fair Pay, the report indicated there was insufficient evidence that workers for any of the ten platforms earned the minimum wage after accounting for costs (GH¢13.53/day).

“There was insufficient evidence that workers on any of the ten platforms earned the living wage rate after accounting for costs (GH¢39.1/day). Therefore, we were unable to award a score to any of the ten platforms on this principle,” it stated.

Analysing the principle of Fair Condition, it said only one of the ten platforms, Glovo, was able to provide evidence that they took action to protect workers from risks that arise on the job.

It added that this year issues of safety and insecurity were reported as critical challenges for workers, requiring more effort from platforms to address them; however, they could not find sufficient evidence to award a score to any of the ten platforms for providing a safety net for workers.

The Fair Contract principle revealed that both the Black Ride and Glovo can provide evidence that their terms and conditions are clear and transparent, and subject to Ghanaian law.

Fair management principle revealed that only two of the ten platforms (Glovo and the Black Ride) were able to evidence the provision of due process for decisions affecting workers.

For Fair Representation, checks revealed only the Black Ride provided evidence that it ensures freedom of association and collective worker voice, and it has also formally and publicly recognised an independent collective body of workers by signing an MoU with various associations.

Recommendations

The group suggested that the country needs new Labour Laws, responsive to the specificities of digital labour platforms to ensure legal recourse is possible for all platform workers.

It also called on the Ghana Labour Department, Ministry of Labour and Employment and other stakeholders in the country to take immediate action on pushing for platforms to recognise their workers as ‘traditional’ workers covered by the country’s Labour Act – not as ‘independent contractors’.

It urged consumers of digital services to choose the services of those that treat their workers better, thus forcing the rest to reform if they want to stay in business.