Uber’s global chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi has pledged to shoot down any move by the federal government to impose hourly pay rates for drivers as he unveiled a push to get 500 electric vehicles onto the platform in Australia.

The company will let passengers in Sydney select an electric vehicle only option from next year and is offering 500 electric cars for hire-purchase to its drivers as it tries to hit its 2040 zero emissions goal.

Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi speaks with the chief executive of car finance firm Splend, Chris King, in front of one of the cars the two companies will lease to drivers.

But Uber also faces an industrial relations flashpoint, with state and federal Labor vowing to overhaul the laws that give gig economy companies, such as Uber, free rein to determine how much their riders get paid while working – or if they get injured, or die.

In his first interview on a whirlwind visit to Australia, Khosrowshahi promised a collaborative approach with the governments on protections for the company’s 100,000 workers in this country, as long as any new rules maintain flexibility for independent contractors.

"It would be a mistake for regulators to say we want to go back to the model [of] 20, 30 years ago," Khosrowshahi told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. "This is a model that technology has enabled."

Khosrowshahi argued paying workers when they are transporting a passenger or goods is essential to ensure workers aren’t discouraged from working for multiple apps, which he said was efficient and helped them earn more.

“If you’re starting to drive kind of earnings per total time, that creates an incentive for platforms to essentially say, ‘Hey, you can only work for me.’,” he said.

“You can open up the Uber app and you can never accept a ride. And so that time when you’re not actually engaged on the platform shouldn’t be [paid].”

That red line from Uber, which has previously scuppered attempts to make it treat its workers as employees in its home state of California, does not rule out other ways of setting earnings standards, such as a per trip or distance minimum.

Unions and Labor have largely accepted the independent contractor model as immovable but have long held concerns about pay rates on the platform, with union surveys suggesting they are below the industry minimum wage. Labor’s model is to legislate to let the national industrial tribunal to give more protections to gig workers but details are scant.

Labour shortages have also roiled ride-sharing services such as Uber globally, pushing out wait times and costs for passengers. But Khosrowshahi said that the market had improved as pandemic era border closures ended and immigrants, who are overrepresented among Uber drivers, returned.

“The service levels at Sydney and Melbourne and Brisbane are actually pretty strong compared to where they are on a global basis,” Khosrowshahi said.

Under Uber's electric vehicle plan, drivers in Sydney will have an option to drive cars from the electric brand Polestar on a hire-purchase basis starting at $550 a week via vehicle financing company Splend. It will offer a 50 per cent discount on Uber fees and subsidised pricing in a move that will let drivers skip the queue on otherwise constrained electric car supplies.

"They're going to save between six and eight tons of carbon dioxide per vehicle, per year," said Splend chief executive Chris King. "That's a huge amount."

The Polestar 2 is a five-door, all-electric fastback. It has two electric motors (at the rear and front axles) and seating for five.Credit:

Most of the Polestar 2 vehicles will be delivered this year, with some to follow next year, along with the expected launch of an electric-only option on Uber’s app, which the company then hopes to roll out in other markets like Melbourne.

In other markets, Uber has promised to have an all-electric fleet as soon as 2025 or 2030, but Khosrowshahi justified the 2040 target in Australia by saying the country “is a little bit behind”. He pointed to more developed charging networks and higher government subsidies overseas as helpful measures.

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean welcomed Uber’s announcement, saying “Australia’s transition to electric vehicles is a priority at all levels of government.”

Khosrowshahi will meet with politicians during his brief trip to Australia, forging connections ahead of a period where Australian governments are poised to regulate the gig economy.

He refused to endorse or oppose a proposal from NSW Labor, which polls predict will win government at the next election, to give gig workers access to traditional compensation that pays hundreds of thousands more in the event of a death than Uber's insurance.

The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.

Most Viewed in Technology

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article