AUATWON Is Instigating Uber And Bolt Drivers To Observe Another Strike

The Nigerian transportation industry has evolved with innovative commute solutions that adopted incorporated electronics with real-time taxi/ride-hailing operations to seamlessly share rides via branded e-hailing networks. Local transport innovation is possible via the existence of juggernaut ride-hailers such as Uber and Bolt that are currently in disarray with threats to embark on an AUATWON-endorsed strike.

Ride-hailing companies evenly operate an in-house sub-app reserved for drivers to duly manage & network drivers to socialize with passengers with intertwined in-app synced activities to correspond with booking rides, passengers incentives, sharing rides, drivers incentives (this depends on passenger rating), drivers interaction with passengers (this includes service courtesy, observing speed limit, etc) and many more management motives.

However, the branded sub-ride-hailing reserved ecosystem for drivers are managed with a rigid policy to moderate drivers’ compliance with the company’s policy since drivers are representatives of their respective brand. Due to Nigeria’s status as a market responsive to bolters commerce, the ride-hailing drivers reportedly evolved to communed interest to birth the Amalgamated Union of App-based Transport Workers of Nigeria (AUATWON) commissioned with the sole commitment to arbitrate for the digitally inclined partisans of the labour market per union-like functions.

The AUATWON is a Nigerian labour-inclined NGO union that checks and balances ride-hailers’ compliance with their drivers and its members agitating for another strike campaign that interrupts branded ride-hailing companies’ workforce. The Nigerian federal government personnel’s transition to President Bola Tinubu as the nation’s 16th head of state whose office has regressively inflated the economic standards of the country.

This sprung the country’s Labour Congress (NLC) to consider embarking on a strike to pause labour input in the country’s economy to spike optimal adjustments — a strategic campaign to protest against the ruling government imbibing inflation in the economy. However, the union picked up the initiative to lead ride-hailing drivers and members to its union in observing this strategy and unanimously bidding for their brands to comply with the AUATWON shortlisted demands which specifically banter on the increment of passengers’ base fares.

The likes of Uber, Bolt, Taxify, and other capitalist ride-hailers have reportedly impacted the local transport system with passive operations in significant markets in the country including Enugu, Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory — Abuja, Calabar, Port Harcourt, and other significant markets in the country. However, Lagos State’s status as the foremost commercial marketplace in the continent has the socialist partisans of the country by joining the train in transport innovation via the Lagos Ride (LagRide) debut by the state government’s endorsement of the app-based ride-sharing platform.

Without contradiction to the AUATWON imposed demands to evade the potential strike, ride-hailing companies continued to hike base fares. Still, the insatiable Interests of the AUATWON members unanimously consent to campaign against the updated pricing system because it doesn’t rub off on drivers’ pockets to further input workforce and operational costs.

The union and its members are gearing up to embark on another strike despite the first strike the labour union endorsed on June 7. The AUATWON treasurer Jolaiya Moses, openly disclosed disapproval of the ride-hailers’ compliance to support the drivers with a favourable policy to tally with the country’s economic standard. “We are supposed to embark on an indefinite strike if nothing is done about it.”