Uber and Bolt drivers no longer want to be sanctioned if they refuse rides

Drivers who operate on alternative transportation platforms are asking the authorities to analyze and stop indirect sanctioning through the „acceptance rate” system, a mechanism used by Uber and Bolt to monitor the activity of partners.

In an open letter sent to the Romanian Government, the Ministry of Transport, the Labor Inspection, the Competition Council and other competent institutions, the president of the Autonomous Drivers Association, Cristian Rădoeșteanu, claims that the current system could violate constitutional principles and European legislation.

What the drivers are complaining about

According to the document, the platforms apply a system called the „acceptance rate”, through which drivers are monitored based on the number of accepted rides. A decrease in this rate can lead to limiting access to orders or even the permanent deactivation of the account.

“Obviously, the driver is an ‘independent partner’. In reality, however, through the acceptance rate mechanism, constant pressure is exerted on him to accept almost all orders received, regardless of profitability, distance or conditions,” the open letter states.

The drivers’ representatives claim that blocking the account is equivalent, in practice, to the instant loss of the source of income: “In this activity, blocking an account for this reason means bankruptcy, that carrier becomes instantly economically inactive.”

Invocation of the Constitution and criminal legislation

The document invokes Article 42 of the Romanian Constitution, which prohibits forced labor. According to the signatories, “any form of indirect coercion, by threatening to lose access to work, can constitute a serious violation of economic freedom and freedom of labor.”

The criminal legislation regarding the exploitation of a person and submission to forced or compulsory labor, as well as O.U.G. no. 49/2019, which regulates the activity of alternative transport and defines the driver as an independent provider.

The drivers also recall that Romania is a signatory to Convention No. 29/1930 on forced labor, which defines this concept as „any work or service which is exacted from a person under the menace of any penalty and for which the person has not offered himself voluntarily”.

„This activity cannot be considered voluntary, because these platforms operate under a law and, moreover, they hold a dominant position in the market”, the letter also states.