Tangerang, January 18, 2025 – The Indonesian Transportation Drivers Union (SEPETA) held a discussion with its members and the Tangerang online driver community at the Sawit Community Basecamp. The event, organized in a simple yet warm atmosphere, was attended by dozens of online drivers who are part of SEPETA’s discussion forum.
The discussion addressed the current situation of online motorcycle taxi drivers (ojol) in Tangerang and plans for mass action to improve their working conditions. Participants shared their aspirations and grievances regarding the difficulties they face in carrying out their work as online drivers.
“Low fares, high operational costs, and the lack of protection from the apps make it difficult for us,” said one of the discussion participants.
SEPETA plans to carry out mass actions to demand improvements in working conditions for online drivers, social protection, and better welfare for online drivers.
“We will continue to fight to improve the conditions of online motorcycle taxi drivers and to enhance the welfare of online drivers,” said Iwan Setiawan, Chairperson of SEPETA.
The discussion concluded that technological advances in the ride-hailing industry are not aimed at improving public welfare, particularly that of online drivers, but instead enable digital platforms to exploit online drivers and dominate the Indonesian market, especially Gojek and Grab.
In practice, the unilateral policies of digital platform applications increasingly oppress and exploit drivers through large commission cuts of more than 20 percent, as well as policies such as slots, incentives, hubs, and most recently Gojek’s paid “Gacor” scheme. This means that drivers are forced to compete with other drivers by paying a certain amount of money just to receive orders.
In addition, drivers are forced to become consumers of capitalists’ overproduced goods through programs such as electric motorcycle and car rentals. The rental costs are fixed, while income is uncertain.
Iwan gave the example of electric motorcycle rentals offered by the Grab application, where drivers are charged IDR 50,000 for the motorcycle rental and IDR 25,000 for battery charging, while orders and wages remain uncertain.
This means that even before starting work, online motorcycle taxi drivers are already required to pay IDR 75,000 per day to the platform.
If drivers using electric motorcycles also join the paid “Gacor” program, their mandatory payments increase even further.
Moreover, platforms exploit drivers by turning them into targets for online loan services provided by the applications themselves.
This is oppression. This is exploitation.
Beyond the unilateral policies of the applications, the government has also failed to protect online motorcycle taxi drivers, whose numbers reach into the millions. Ojol drivers have yet to be recognized as workers and do not receive social protection.
The forum organized by SEPETA produced urgent demands on behalf of millions of Indonesian online drivers:
- Immediately issue a Presidential Regulation (Perpres) on the protection of online motorcycle taxi drivers.
- Recognize online motorcycle taxi drivers as workers.
- Provide social protection.
- Provide Eid Bonus (THR), calculated from annual ojol income divided by 12 months, or provided universally and unconditionally.
- Guarantee the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.
- Set a maximum application commission of 10 percent.
- Abolish Aceng, Hub, Slot, and paid “Gacor” schemes.
- Provide emergency reporting contacts to protect female ojol drivers from violence and sexual harassment while working.
These demands demonstrate that SEPETA and online driver communities are calling for protection and justice for online motorcycle taxi drivers in Indonesia. We hope that these demands will be heard and fulfilled by both the government and the digital platform companies.
SEPETA believes that through mass action and clear demands, the government and digital platforms will pay more attention to the welfare and rights of online drivers. “We will continue to fight for our rights,” emphasized the Chairperson of SEPETA. (Tyg-SS)