"Gig Economy Project – ‘Game over Uber’: Stockholm Uber and Bolt drivers in first-ever strike", 11 Jan 2023

AROUND 500 Uber and Bolt drivers went on strike in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, on Tuesday [10 January], a first for the Scandinavian country. 

The strike was organised by the newly formed Taxiunionen (‘Taxi Union’), and lasted 24 hours. Protests also took place in Malmö and Gothenburg, and the union says it now has members in 14 cities across Sweden. 

A lively protest with cars honking took place through the streets of Stockholm, with one placard reading: “Game over Uber”. Drivers protested outside Uber’s office earlier in the day, and also attended a meeting in Bolt’s office.

In November, Taxiunionen sent a letter to the two platform companies calling for prices to be urgently raised to increase driver pay...

Taxiunionen also wants Uber and Bolt’s commission on each trip reduced to 15 per cent from 25 per cent, and that the platforms recognise Taxiunionen as the drivers’ union representatives.

Uber launched in Sweden in 2014. The drivers operate as independent contractors, meaning they have no access to social security benefits like sick leave and holiday pay and have no collective bargaining agreement, unlike the majority of Swedish workers under the ‘Swedish model’...

Peter Löfstrand, Uber’s Nordic Manager, told Flamman after the protest: “We think that one dissatisfied driver is one too many and therefore we have recently had a constructive conversation with a number of drivers, who visited us a few weeks ago to give their views, which we then took into account today when we had a meeting with additional drivers.”