Australia

Uber Pays Australian Cabbies $178M Settlement

MAR 18 2024·Updated MAR 19 2024

Story

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The Facts

Uber Australia will pay $272M Australian ($178.M) to taxi operators and drivers to settle a class action suit they filed against the ride-hailing company in 2019 for causing significant wage losses.
The Register
Uber in a statement said it has put "legacy issues firmly in our past" upon news it has agreed to the fifth-largest class action settlement in Australian history.
MSN
The litigants claimed Uber shrank their incomes from 2014 to 2017 by operating illegally in Australia when only licensed cabs and hire cars were allowed to carry passengers for cash during that period.
Archive
The case, which was brought by around 8K taxi and hire car drivers, was to be tried before the Supreme Court of Victoria on Monday, five years after it was filed.
UPI
The court still must approve the settlement based on it being in the best interest of the group's members.
BBC News
San Francisco-based Uber, which operates in more than 10K cities around the world, has faced protests from taxi drivers for years. Last year, it won a similar lawsuit in Paris after drivers demanded $495.4M over what they called unfair competition.
BBC News

Sources Split

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The Spin

Narrative A

After years of denial, stalling, and fighting back by Uber, justice for taxi drivers has finally been served. This should be a lesson to any big firm seeking undeserved profits and to workers facing unfair competition — even the hardest battles can be won with unity and persistence against greed.

Firstpost

Narrative B

When Uber entered the scene, Australia's ride-hailing industry was overpriced and teeming with aging cars. The company brought a revival of sorts and completely modernized the industry with its new-age sensibility and technology. If what Uber did was illegal, it was because the law was anachronistic. The company cannot be blamed for being far ahead.