Tuesday, December 20, 2016

The VTC to see red with Uber – Release

The new meeting on Tuesday afternoon between representatives of the drivers VTC and reservation platform of the races will be long. To the chagrin of the secretary of State for Transport, Alain Vidalies, who had tried to play the gentleman’s good offices, in a conflict now in stalemate because, according to the executive, to the intransigence of the first of them, the american Uber. The Prime minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, who had been in trouble with its service UberPop when he officiated at the Inside, has warned of the application of california in declaring to the Senate that the government was “absolutely determined” to what Uber “commits in the way of progress”.

Two million euros to assist the VTC in trouble

The meeting, which started shortly before 14: 30 on Tuesday, lasted less than an hour because of the refusal of Uber, archi-the majority on this market and, in particular, to Paris, to access the claims of the drivers. The latter demanded the immediate return to a commission of 20 % as seen by the application compared to 25 % since the 8th of December and a revaluation of rates to 8 € minimum the race is down to 6 euros today.

Uber had asked for a delay Monday evening to discuss these requests, and to consult with his headquarters in San Francisco before you today to return to the negotiating table. But rather than giving guarantees on this rate increase at the same time to decrease its commission, he announced the creation of a support fund of € 2 million for drivers VTC in trouble. A response typically american, to the Google, that rather than accept a tax to fund the press in which she relays the content on its service “Google News” had preferred to unlock a few million euros in the creation of a fund to finance projects of digital transformation in the sector.

The word order of the VTC ? Disconnect from the Uber

“This is an announcement effect, an attempt to put us to sleep and to achieve their ends, that is to say, nothing to give, has responded Jean-Claude Resnier VTC of France. in This is not a us company and must impose a de facto state in a state of law “. the “We asked one thing, they refused” laments, for its part, a spokesman for the association Capa-VTC which is now called the drivers to “to log out of Uber”, like most of the professional associations who participated in the discussions. the “They have announced a fund with no explanation, neither on terms nor on the criteria for allocation”, judge of Jean-Luc Albert (Active-VTC), disappointed by this “defiance“.

Attached by Liberation, Sayah Baaroun of SCP-VTC affiliated with the Unsa, considers, that the approach of Uber is “absolutely not consistent”. “They want what, storm-t-it, paying our mutual, our unemployment ? Uber claims that I am her customer, but if he comes to me to help, I refacturera behind. It is not alms-giving, we want to conditions of work and pay decent, while they have continued to deteriorate in recent times. If they want war, they will have it.” “Uber must leave France”, has launched a driver, now with a dozen of his counterparts in front of the State secretariat, while Fabian Tosolini (CFDT-Transport) invited the drivers to disconnect from the set of platforms to connect with customers. The rejection is unanimous, and the unions of VTC call for a resumption of the movement of the blocking of the paris airports as of tomorrow morning.

Alain Vidalies regretted “deeply” the attitude of Uber

The secretary of State for Transport, Alain Vidalies, had called Monday to the u.s. platform of “temporarily freeze the increase of its commission, recently increased from 20% to 25%” in order to ease tensions. And had proposed the appointment of a mediator with an agenda in four points to lead by the end of January : pricing, condition of disconnection of the platforms for the drivers today written off and sometimes arbitrary, social protection and charges. The ex-boss of the SNCF Network Jacques Rapoport has been named today, but the firefighter in the service of the government in the transport sector (Air France, SNCF, VTC, etc), a lawyer by profession and an expert in social law, “deplores the choice of Uber which is not conducive to the smooth running of future discussions”. The minister is going to hand over to a mediator who arrives in a folder undermined from all sides. Difficult indeed to imagine that before the refusal of Uber, m any of the representatives of the drivers agree to engage in a negotiation in which they had laid their conditions.

with the exception of Cab, other platforms – Allocab, Driver, private, Marcel, and Snapcar– gathered in the heart of the French Federation of transport of people on a booking (FFTPR) – were not present in the negotiations to do “not to interfere in the discussions between Uber drivers”, according to Yves Weisselberger, its president. At the head of Snapcar, the latter says it is ready, “if this remains in the realm of the reasonable” to contribute to the financing of the social protection of drivers.

The law Grandguillaume adopted by the Assembly

Irony of the calendar, this conflict is escalating at the same time as the bill proposed by socialist deputy Laurent Grandguillaume framing the platforms VTC shall be finally adopted this week by the Parliament. It was Tuesday at the Meeting and will be Wednesday in the Senate if the upper chamber votes in a manner consistent with the text of this elected initially appointed by the government to resolve another conflict, the one between the taxis and the VTC.

Laurent Grandguillaume according to that Uber, by its attitude, carries heavy responsibility in the current situation - “for Uber, it’s the Wild West without a sheriff “, “social dumping”, “it defies the rule of law all the time,”, etc – has designed his law as a response to the social movements triggered at the beginning of the year by all the drivers, taxis, VTC and Loti (transit on demand). And as many different professions which compete for customers… the same. In the wake of the law Thévenoud of 2014, the text clarifies the obligations of the platforms and the sanctions incurred in case of breach, and not to impose exclusivity clauses to the drivers that it finds the “poverty”, and this regardless of their status.

Its effect is the most visible should be the disappearance of the drivers employees under status Loti, who represent two-thirds of the 22,000 drivers VTC in activity, and most of the battalions involved on the platform Uber. Only freelancers will be able to exercise by the end of next year, after having successfully passed a difficult exam that is common to the VTC and taxis under the aegis of the chambers of trades and crafts in which the taxis are very well represented.

what To do to potentially lower the number of drivers in the VTC and promote a rebalancing of the power relationship between them and the platforms. According to Sayah Baaroun of SCP-VTC drivers are today in a situation of “economic dependence vis-à-vis Uber and not their own bosses contrary to what tells the application that the u.s. has created in the world of VTC a monopoly similar to that which had yesterday the taxis“. the “ensure sufficient income will be required to withhold from us,” says a boss of platform.

Three billion dollars of losses in 2016

But the intransigence of the Uber does not bode well, even if the platform has confirmed his desire “to participate in new round tables with the sector as a whole and of the public authorities”. An attitude which is perhaps not without relationship with his financial situation : according to Bloomberg, the world’s number 1 applications of urban transport has lost more than $ 800 million (about € 770 million) in the third quarter and could lose around $ 3 billion this year, after $ 2 billion in 2015. Still, its turnover has also more than tripled compared to the same period in 2015, reaching $ 1.7 billion and could exceed $ 5.5 billion this year. Its value reached 69 billion, or more than General Motors and Twitter combined. Harder will be the fall ?

Christophe Alix

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