“We want to regain control of pricing.” Since the opening of the first meeting last week, the vice president of the Association des VTC de France (AVF), Yassine Bensaci, had it clear: remuneration must be the priority issue of the social dialogue that has been opened between the VTC platforms ( Uber, Heetch, Bolt, etc.) and driver representatives.
“The ones who are suffering from the cost increases are us. In order to maintain our profitability, we have to increase the price of the races,” the representative of AVF, the first representative union in the sector, confirms to BFM Business.
Main claim of the pilots: the establishment of a minimum price for a race that affects all platforms, as they have explained the parisian. Currently, this minimum price is set at 8 euros in Uber. But each platform has its own policy in this regard. On the driver’s side, we claim at least “€10 net”, that is after deduction of commission and VAT, to guarantee profitability. As long as, warns Yassine Bensaci, the platforms do not seek in return to lower the price per kilometer and per minute.
Minimum hourly rate
Beyond setting a minimum rate for a trip, the AVF also wants to benefit from a minimum hourly rate, to better take into account the distance traveled and the time it takes to pick up a customer. “You have to start from a cost price that takes into account variable charges (commission, fuel, etc.) and fixed charges (insurance, vehicle maintenance, etc.) and we would automatically add a margin, that would give a sale price”, explains Yassine Bensaci. .
It is also necessary, continues the AVF vice president, that these minimum prices “be reviewable each year to take inflation into account.”
The platforms seem ready to grant a gesture, but caution is in order. “We want each platform to raise its prices. But if we go too high, we will find ourselves in a context in which we will no longer be competitive” against taxis, she explains to the Parisian Hugues Le Chevallier, General Manager of Heetch France.
A comment that goes wrong with Yassine Bensaci, who recalls that in the beginning the VTCs were much more expensive than today: “It is the platforms that have disguised the transport of the VTCs selling less expensive than taxis. exclusive service So the apps opened the floodgates and wanted to attract as many drivers as possible “…with fewer quality requirements.
social guarantees
If it is a priority, the issue of remuneration is not the only one that will be addressed during the social negotiations between VTC drivers and network platforms. “We want to improve the working conditions of drivers. Today, a driver has no guarantees in the event of an accident or illness. They do not have or have very little social security coverage”, emphasizes Yassine Bensaci, who asks “to review the system with and social guarantees.
It is not, however, a matter of making VTC drivers go to salaried employment: “85-90% of drivers want to remain self-employed”, says the AVF vice president, but “we want to have social guarantees, income guarantees and better profitability to avoid working 12 hours a day. Finally, the discussions should also focus on the disconnections while the AVF judges that “the majority of drivers who have been disconnected by the platforms have been abusively, without consulting the unions.” Yassine Bensaci now demands that “the colleagues sanction, not the platforms.”
Invited to BFM Business on Thursday, Clément Beaune recalled that France was “the first country to have a social framework” in the VTC sector “because there is no reason why drivers should not have the right to discuss their salaries, their social conditions”. The Transport Minister was “favorable” to social negotiations that “result in improving the purchasing power of drivers.” “I think they deserve this protection,” he said.
However, he considers that an excessive increase in the price of the VTC would not be “not in the interest of the sector” in the face of taxis. “Protecting the drivers is very good, but if there is no one left to pay for the races, they will not have more income,” added Clément Beaune.
Source: BFM TV
