. Commence Strike In Ibadan
Drivers with an online transportation company, Bolt formerly known as Taxify in Ibadan have decried poor condition of service by the company.
The drivers who staged a peaceful protest to the Ibadan office of the company yesterday complained among other things poor condition of service and breach of partnership agreement by the company.
They accused the company of fixing a price which according to them, does not in any way favour them as they are the ones who fuel their vehicles by themselves, take ‘riders’ (passengers) from one destination to the other, while the company will just deduct its own percentage.
“Bolt is cheating and feeding fat on our sweats. Many of us are graduates who acquired these vehicles on hire-purchase. And when we signed up with this fraudulent company what they told us was a partnership but today these people are treating us like animals. They come with policies that favour them without even telling us. They make decisions without us and they make it mandatory on us. They don’t have vehicles; we are the ones with our vehicles. We fuel, do repairs and other things on our vehicles. We bear insults and take the risk all by ourselves. And can you imagine that these people will just sit at the comforts of their office to make money on us. They don’t care about our welfare; all they are after is their percentage.”
The drivers, who called on all relevant government agencies and Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC to come to their aid, accused of Bolt of not allowing them to have a union that will be able to checkmate it excesses.
While speaking with journalists on behalf of the drivers, Comrade Michael Olatunji stated that the company has no regard or any good plan for the drivers.
“The organization has failed to respect the place of the drivers, as major contributors to the company’s growth. We are treated like animals. They have deliberately fixed the prices at the detriment of the drivers, just for them to attract more customers (riders) without us being considered.”
He added: “Cases of our reported stolen vehicles while working for them have landed on deaf ears over time. The company has no method to track down riders whose trips ended badly. Our countless letters to the management over different issues received no attention. In some cases, they even block drivers for pressing demands. Part of our agitations is immediate unblocking of our members.”
“As regards health and vehicles insurances of the drivers and cars respectively, we need urgent answers. Why should we be treated as slaves? We want a kind of insurance that will work”.
He also noted that, “if we are to resume work, they should comply with Nigeria Labour Law and must be legally documented. Our partnership with Taxify must be mutual and it should be a slave-master relationship. He concluded.
Another driver, name withheld also lamented that, “it is an awful experience with Taxify in my few days as a driver. I could have stayed on my own as an independent driver instead of slaving myself. The advent that attracted about making thousands within a week is a scam”.