In a 2022 YouTube video shot on the front camera of his smartphone, driver and community organizer Mahmoud El Soori detailed the mounting hardships facing people like himself, who work for ride-hailing applications like Uber, Careem, or inDrive. “If I complete a trip for EGP 100 [equivalent to 3.26 USD], Uber might take up to EGP 30. I’m left with EGP 70. Subtract the cost of fuel, oil, tire changes, spare parts…How much am I actually taking home to my family?” asked El Soori. Last July, days after a fuel price increase – the third to be implemented in Egypt in 2022 – many ride-hailing platforms raised their pricing schemes. Workers’ wages, however, he argued, neither rose enough to meet this increase nor even to help shoulder the cost of maintaining a vehicle. This could not go on. His sentiment was shared by thousands of other drivers working for different platforms, who planned a nationwide strike under the banner of the ‘Million Driver Initiative,’ of which El Soori is the official spokesperson. “I want these companies to see that captains are tired and exhausted. It’s our right to speak up…
