Bolt under pressure to fall in line with Supreme Court Uber ruling

Bolt, London’s second-biggest ride-hailing app operator, is under increasing pressure to fall in line with Uber and grant its drivers ‘worker’ status.

Bizarrely, the pressure is not only coming from trade unions, but from Uber itself, which believes there is so little difference between the two companies’ operating models that Bolt should be covered by the February 2021 Supreme Court ruling on Uber drivers.

An Uber spokeswoman said: “Other ride-hailing apps such as Bolt and Ola have substantially the same business model as Uber. However, drivers work across multiple platforms in any one day and it’s absurd that they will be covered with these worker rights on one trip and not another.”

“The Supreme Court was clear that drivers must be treated as workers. Other operators may resist giving drivers holiday pay and pensions now, but it will not be a fruitful fight and they will likely face legal challenges.”

Last month the App Drivers & Couriers Union (ACDU) turned its attentions to Bolt, calling for a drivers’ strike and user boycott of the app unless Bolt offers similar rights to its drivers as Uber now does.

ACDU said that it believed Bolt drivers worked under identical conditions to Uber drivers, though Bolt maintains its employment model is different in a number of ways. An unknown number of Bolt drivers went on strike for 24 hours on Tuesday, June 22 in protest at the firm’s failure to grant them worker rights.

A Bolt spokesperson said that the firm had a different operating model to Uber and was not operating in London in 2016, when the legal case against Uber was first brought.

Following the February Supreme Court judgement, Uber decided to extend workers’ rights to all its drivers, though it continues to argue that a driver is only at work once a job has been accepted, not while the driver was waiting for a job. Uber has subsequently recognised the right of the GMB Union to represent its members.

Abdurzak Hadi, chair of ADCU London, said: “Bolt can no longer just bury its head in the sand and pretend that their drivers and our members are not entitled to the same rights as Uber drivers.”

In a statement, Bolt responded to the claims, saying: “We maintain regular dialogue with drivers regarding many topics, through surveys, newsletters, social platforms and in-person forums. They tell us they like Bolt because it charges less commission – as low as 10% for drivers with electric vehicles – resulting in higher average earnings when on a trip.”

“The majority of private hire drivers who enter the industry do so for the flexible hours and freedom to choose when to drive so we don’t penalise drivers for declining trips or for accepting trips from other companies.”

However, Bolt has recently increased the fee it charges drivers of non-electric cars, which Uber claims removes one of its main objections to falling in line. The Uber spokeswoman said: “Bolt recently indicated that they will resist giving drivers worker rights despite the Supreme Court judgment.”

“They pointed to their lower service fee of 15% as a reason, stating that ‘drivers take home more money’. However, on July 14 Bolt raised their service fee from 15% to 20%. Even if this change hadn’t happened, a lower commission fee doesn’t replace a driver’s rights by law – worker rights are not optional.”

Uber also said that it pays 12.07% holiday payments, weekly in cash, so the Bolt claim about drivers making more money is not valid.