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Uber鈥檚 usual tricks — to provoke price wars in an attempt to increase their share of markets, evade taxes, and undermine workers鈥� rights — are alive and well in Africa.

Technophiles and liberals聽across the African continent are embracing the ride sharing application Uber. Their services are especially popular with the young urban middle classes. In most African cities, public transport is limited, unpredictable and often dangerous, especially after dark. Uber is also cheaper than meter-taxis. Uber鈥檚 mobile application makes taxi rides efficient and easy, and women feel safer since rides are registered and passengers聽rate their drivers.

Since 2013, Uber has registered drivers in 15 cities in nine聽African聽countries:聽from聽Cape to Cairo; from Nairobi to Accra. In October last year,聽. The plans are to expand. While media continues to talk about how Uber creates jobs聽in African cities聽suffering from enormous unemployment,聽the company聽prefers to couch what they do as partnership: They have registered 29,000 鈥渄river-partners.鈥� However, through my research and work with trade unions in Ghana and Nigeria, and a review of Uber鈥檚 practices in the rest of Africa, I found that there are many, including Uber鈥檚 own 鈥渄river partners,鈥� who have mixed feelings about the company.

Established taxi drivers rage and mobilize resistance to the company across the continent. While Uber claims to create jobs and opportunities, taxi drivers accuse the company of undermining their already-precarious jobs and their abilities to earn a living wage while having to cope with Uber鈥檚 price wars, tax evasion and undermining of聽labor聽rights.

Take Ghana, for example. Uber defines its own prices, but regular taxis in Accra are bound by prices negotiated every six months between the Ghanaian Federation for Private Road Transport (GPRTU) and the government. The negotiated prices are supposed to聽take into account聽inflation, but currently negotiations are聽delayed聽as聽fuel prices continues rising. The week before I met聽Issah聽Khaleepha, Secretary General of the GRPRTU in February, the union held strikes against fuel price increases. Uber鈥檚 ability to set its own price gives it a distinct advantage in this environment.

Like in most African countries the taxi industry in Ghana is part of the informal economy. Informality, however, is not straightforward. Accra鈥檚 taxis are licensed,聽registered commercial cars, marked by yellow license plates and painted in the same colors. Drivers pay taxes. Uber cars are registered as private vehicles, marked by white license plates, which gives them access to areas that are closed to commercial vehicles, such as certain hotels.

Uber is informalizing through the backdoor and pushing a race to the bottom, says聽Yaaw聽Baah, the Secretary General of the聽聽(Ghana TUC). The Ghana TUC, the聽聽(GEA) and the government all support the聽, which says that the formalization of informal economy will ensure workers鈥� rights and taxes owed to governments.

The fault lines in Uber鈥檚 business model have been exposed in other parts of the continent as well. In Lagos, Uber cut prices by 40%聽in 2017, prompting聽. Drivers聽have to聽give up 25 percent of their income to Uber, and most drivers have to pay rent to the car owners. Many drivers left Uber for the Estonian competitor,聽Taxify, which takes 15 percent of revenues. In February 2017, an informal union of Nairobi drivers forced Uber to raise their fares from聽听(蹿谤辞尘听)聽per kilometer; yet still a far cry from a foundation for a living wage.

In Kenya, South Africa聽and聽, the fragmented and self-regulated聽taxi industry聽is associated聽with violence, conflicts and criminal networks. There are reports of frequent violence and threats to Uber drivers. So-called taxi wars in South Africa, which began in the 1980s,聽have turned into聽鈥淯ber wars.鈥澛營n聽South African,聽xenophobia聽adds聽fuel聽to聽the聽fire sine many Uber drivers are immigrants from聽听辞谤听. In Johannesburg two Uber cars were burned. Uber drivers have been attacked and killed聽in Johannesburg and Nairobi.

The fragmentation and informality of the transport industry聽makes workers vulnerable and difficult to organize. However, examples of successes in transportation labor organizing in the past in some African countries, show that it is necessary in order to confront the challenges of the transportation sectors on the continent.

A decade ago, CESTRAR, the Rwandan trade union confederation, organized Kigali motorcycle taxis (motos) in cooperatives that are platforms from where to organize during price聽negotiations, and to enable tax payment systems.

For Uganda鈥檚 informal transport workers, unionization has had a dramatic impact. In 2006, the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union in Uganda, ATGWU, counted only 2000 members. By incorporating informal taxi and motorcycle taxes鈥� (boda-boda) associations,聽. For the informal drivers, union membership聽has聽ensured freedom of assembly and given them negotiating power. The airport taxis bargained for a collective agreement that standardized branding for the taxis, gave them an office and sales counter in the arrivals hall, a properly organized parking and rest area, uniforms and identity cards. A coordinated strike brought Kampala to a standstill聽and forced聽political support from President Yoweri Museveni against police harassment聽and political interference.

South Africa is currently the only country in Africa with a lawsuit against Uber. There,聽4,000 Uber drivers joined the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, SATAWU, who supported them in a court case to claim status as employees with rights and protection against unfair termination. They won the first round,聽but lost the appeal in January 2018. The judge stressed that the case was lost on a technicality. The drivers have since jumped from SATAWU to National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (Nupsaw), and they will probably聽go to聽court again.

Taxi operators don鈥檛 need to join Uber or to abandon聽labor聽rights in order get the efficiency and safety advantages of the technology.聽In some countries, local companies have developed technology adapted to local conditions.聽. In Kenya,聽Maramoja聽believes their application provides better security than Uber. Through linking to social media like Facebook, Twitter and Google+, you can see who of your contacts have used and recommend聽drivers.聽In聽.

Still, even though the transport sector in Ethiopia has been 鈥渨alled off鈥� from foreign competition, and Uber has been kept out of the聽聽rather than protection of workers鈥� rights. By contrast, the South African Scoop-A-Cab is developed to ensure 鈥�.鈥澛燛ssentially, customers get the technological benefits, taxis companies continues to be registered, drivers pay taxes and can be protected by聽labor聽rights. It is 聽such a mix of benefits that may point in the direction of a more positive transportation future on the continent.

wrote her PhD on labor unions in Nigeria at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

This article was first published on .

Photo by Max Pixel.