UBER UPDATE - INT


FRENCH TAXI DRIVERS SUE UBER OVER UNFAIR COMPETITION


Almost 2,500 taxi drivers in France have


accused Uber of unfair


competition, claiming that the ride-hailing giant’s business has caused them to lose an average of €9,300 each per year. A trial kicked off on 13 October, in Paris, with cabbies demanding €455 million from Uber. The drivers say they represent 8% of the total number of taxi drivers in the country and are supported by nine taxi unions in their case. It is one of many legal wrangles that Uber has had to grapple with since arriving in France in 2011. In 2020, France’s Supreme Court


ruled in favour of a former Uber driver, who claimed he should be considered as an employee of the company, not a freelancer. Based on that 2020 ruling, the taxi drivers in this trial allege that Uber is refusing to apply French labour laws, and benefits from unfair advantages. They are subject to more restrictive rules than those holding freelance status, the taxi drivers claim. “We intend to prove that Uber put in place a system where unlaw- fulness is an operational principle, a system where violating the law is used as a means to destroy the


market, at the expense of competition,” the taxis drivers’ lawyer Cédric Dubucq said. Beyond their own assessment of an average annual loss of €9,300 per driver, the complainants are asking for compensation for psychological damage. Uber said the taxi drivers’ claim is “baseless” and “out-of-date”. “Over 35,000 drivers use our app to generate revenues. This action is against the interest of an entire sector, as well as drivers who wish to remain independent, just as thousands of independent French taxi drivers,” said Uber.


UBER DRIVER ‘SAVES’ WOMAN FROM RAPIST BEFORE RAPING HER HIMSELF IN FLORIDA


An Uber driver who raped a woman after “saving” her from another sex attack was caught by a webcam viewer 1,600 miles away. Kerry Gasag, 39, has now been jailed for ten years after he was filmed attacking the victim at a tourist landmark in Florida. The woman had been victim to a separate assault on a Key West street before the Uber driver stepped in. The woman told the police that she initially thought that Gasag was her saviour. But, once the victim was in his car, Gasag began bom- barding her with sexual requests. Videos found on her iPhone picked up the sound of Gasag asking her to have sex. When she refused, Gasag responded by saying that he could have had sex with her in the bushes already. The victim eventually jumped out


PHTM NOVEMBER 2023


sound crazy, but I’m at work and I have


the Southernmost Point


cam? I could swear that I saw somebody get raped.” The webcam footage showed Gasag put his hand over the woman’s mouth to


silence her, before


of the car in panic, and that’s when the iPhone recordings stopped. According to the police, a live webcam at the Southernmost Point bouy in Key West was used to piece together the rest of the crime. An emergency


services


dispatcher who was viewing the camera 1,600 miles away


saw


Gasag following the victim, and immediately called the police. The dispatcher said: “I’m actually calling from Boston, this is going to


dragging her behind the buoy. A few minutes later, the video shows the woman emerge half- dressed, stumbling and then running away. Gasag appears immediately zipping up his shorts and then driving away. The police report said that Gasag was “clearly identifiable” in the video, but it took police two years to find and arrest him. The woman’s first attacker was named as Jorge Calderon Nunez, 32 who is currently in a jail on a bond of $225,000. He was due to appear in court at a later date.


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