Ride-hailing applications' drivers suspend strike after Lower House assurance

AMMAN — The Ride-hailing Applications Drivers’ Union has suspended a planned strike demanding a slew of actions from the government following talks with Lower House Speaker Abdulkarim Dughmi on Sunday.

The union has not called off the strike but has suspended it until it hears from the government, according to the Applications Drivers’ Union Spokesperson Lorans Refai. 

Ride-hailing applications’ drivers met with members of Parliament on Sunday to discuss their demands, and the Lower House speaker referred their demands to the Land Transport Regulatory Commission (LTRC), according to Refai. 

“Over 13,000 drivers work with ride-hailing applications in the Kingdom, and almost 4,000 drivers who are drowning in debt are taken to courts,” Refai told The Jordan Times. 

Refai stated that drivers are struggling to make ends meet with the additional increase in fuel prices.

“Twenty-five per cent of our income goes to the application, another 4 per cent goes for taxes,” he said, adding that the driver pays all the necessary expenses from fuel, oil changes, to licence fees. 

“Although our work is promoted as flexible, we find our job stressful and exploitative as we lack the protections of formal employment,” Ahmad Sultan, a ride-hailing application driver, told The Jordan Times. 

Drivers are considered "independent contractors", which means that they have no social security or health coverage, according to Refai.

The demands presented to Parliament also include: Increasing the operational age of cars from five years to 10 years, allowing drivers over the age of 60 to work through ride-hailing applications, reducing the percentage paid to the application and reducing the permit fees from JD400 to JD200, according to the demands document made available to The Jordan Times. 

“Working conditions are cruel. A driver cannot refuse an order for any reason, or they will be blocked from working through the application,” Refai concluded.