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Uber opens up on Oz deactivation policies, just a little

Facing the nightmare of unionised drivers, drive-share behemoth makes half-hearted attempt at transparency

Uber in Australia has been pushed into making public the criteria that can get a driver kicked out.

The “deactivation policy” went live last week, with Uber saying it's in response to complaints from drivers.

Uber Australia's Mike Abbott blogs that “we don’t always do a good job working with our driver-partners to explain our processes. For example, there hasn’t been a standard transparent, published policy explaining when and how we deactivate drivers. At our size that’s not good enough.”

While the policy is public, drivers aren't convinced it's transparent: they complain that the policy doesn't offer any information about how complaints against drivers will be investigated.

In an unwelcome development for the ride-share darling-of-app-economy-boosters, Australian drivers are following the example of some drivers in America, and unionising.

As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, there's now a Ride Share Drivers' Association of Australia (RSDAA).

The RSDAA's Dan Manchester says the policy tells drivers why they can be deactivated, but “It is fundamentally lacking the procedures that they go through to investigate anything”.

While the deactivation policy includes punishments for things like fraud, drug and alcohol issues, or high cancellation rates, drivers can also be dumped for falling below the “minimum star rating” for their city – something which the company doesn't publish. ®

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