Death of Uber driver Scott Cabrie sparks call for federal law change
The horrific alleged murder of experienced Hervey Bay Uber driver Scott Cabrie has sparked a call from the national Transport Workers Union for urgent federal law reform of the transport gig economy.
Fraser Coast
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The national secretary of the Transport Workers Union is calling on the federal government to introduce legislation that would make working safer for drivers.
The call comes in the wake of recent attacks on drivers and the brutal murder of Uber driver Scott Cabrie on the Fraser Coast.
TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said the union was both shocked and saddened by the killing of Mr Cabrie, who was allegedly chased down and stabbed to death last Tuesday.
Two teens have been charged with his murder and have appeared in court.
“We know from our community of rideshare driver members that Scott Cabrie was an experienced driver and well-respected by his peers,” Mr Kaine said.
“Like every worker, Scott deserved to be safe at work but this harrowing event shows how dangerous this work is.”
Mr Kaine said there was a lack of safety for those who drove.
“For years, the TWU has been raising the enormous deficit of safe conditions for transport gig economy workers,” he said.
“We know rideshare drivers too often face abusive and violent attacks as well as sexual harassment.
“With no system in Australia to provide entitlements to gig economy workers, rideshare drivers have no rights to minimum wage, workers’ compensation, or protections from unfair deactivation.
“The deprivation of rights makes these workers incredibly vulnerable. They’re being targeted across the country, with this horrific murder and two other violent robberies which took place in South Australia last week. Things have got to change.”
Mr Kaine called for the federal government to take action as soon as possible.
“We need urgent action to create a system of safe standards with enforceable rights and protections for all transport workers in the gig economy,” he said.
“This reform has been committed to by the federal government and supported by gig giants Uber and DoorDash.
“We urge Federal Parliament to pass this legislation without delay to ensure workers are heard, consulted and empowered to be safe at work.”
A spokesman for the Ride Share Drivers United said the union was saddened by Mr Cabrie’s death.
“We were very saddened to hear about the death of yet another Uber driver doing their job,” they said.
“There is a certain level of risk involved in any job that requires interacting with the public, and being an Uber driver is no exception.”
The spokesman said he’d like to see better protections in place by way of limiting passengers with low ratings.
“ … We do expect Uber to do more in order to vet passengers and weed out the problematic ones,” he said.
“Attacks on Uber drivers are not too common, but we would definitely like Uber to do much more due diligence and remove low rated passengers off the platform just like they do drivers.
“Drivers are often reporting low rated passengers (3.9 stars or less) that are still able to use the platform and this must change.”
The spokesman encouraged drivers to assess their level of comfort with passengers and said they hoped Uber would show strong support to Mr Cabrie’s family after he lost his life on the job.
A spokesperson for Uber said the company was working with police and offering support to Mr Cabrie’s family.
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