On May 3, more than 6000 taxi drivers and people working in the rental industry, operators and license holders, among others, unite together filed a class action suit against Uber in court.
On behalf of taxi drivers from Victoria, New, Queensland and Western Australia, Maurice Blackburn lawer filed a case against prosecute in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
More than 22000 taxi drivers were involved in the case, 16880 in Victoria, 13158 in Kunzhou and 6250 in Western Australia.
The proceedings will bring accusation Uber from 1 April 2014 to 23 August 2017 in Victoria, from 1 April 2014 to 17 December 2015 in New State, and from 1 April 2014 to 5 September 2016 in Kunzhou, Illegal acts in Western Australia from October 10, 2014 to July 4, 2016.
A brief of the complaint said that Uber knew their business in Australia was illegal because Uber knew that the company`s drivers did not have a proper license or certification, and that the vehicle used by the Uber driver did not obtain the appropriate licence. A policy adopted by Uber shows that by doing business in markets where regulators default not to take direct enforcement action, they are in fact completely ignoring any existing regulations.
"as a result, Uber has an unfair competitive advantage for law-compliant taxi and rental industry participants," the summary wrote.
Greyball is said to be a software used by Uber to cheat regulators, impose fines on drivers and ban some users from using the app.
Andrew Watson, head of class action across Australia, said the size of the case meant it was one of the largest class action suits in Australia`s history.
"there is no doubt that this will be a landmark case where Uber is suspected of operating illegally in Australia and has had a devastating impact on Australia`s hard-working and law-abiding citizen life," he said. It is unacceptable for Uber to put itself above law, to operate illegally and to harm others. We have a strong team, as well as thousands of drivers from all over Australia, strong support from operators. "
Lawer Elizabeth O `Shea, senior assistant to Maurice Blackburn, said the lawsuit did not require any funding from one of the world`s largest litigants, Harbour.
"the idea of Uber peddling is maverick," he said. "in fact, as we claim, it means operating illegally, using cunning programs like" Greyball. " Uber entered Australia to exploit normal workers in the industry by operating illegally. Uber`s behavior has caused terrible losses to our taxi drivers. For these reasons, we will ask the multi-billion-dollar company to compensate those affected. "
"more than 3.8 million Australians often use Uber to get from point A to point B," said speaker, a woman at Uber Australia. "government across Australia admits carpooling is part of the traffic. We are committed to providing quality services to passengers and drivers in the cities we operate. "
