ILRF Revue internationale du Travail Revue internationale du Travail 0378-5599 1564-9121 10.1111/ilrf.12271 «Il n'y a pas d’avenir dans ce métier.» Être chauffeur de VTC en Afrique par temps de pandémie ANWAR Mohammad Amir mohammad.anwar@ed.ac.uk ONG'IRO ODEO Jack jack.odeo@gmail.com OTIENO Elly Ellyotieno59@gmail.com Centre d’études africaines, Université d’Édimbourg Oxford Internet Institute, Université d’Oxford École supérieure de tourisme et d’hôtellerie, Université de Johannesburg Université Jomo Kenyatta d’agriculture et de technologie Chercheur indépendant 02 03 2023 162 1 10.1111/ilrf.v162.1 27 50 © Auteur(s), 2022. © Compilation et traduction des articles: Organisation internationale du Travail, 2023.

Si les plateformes ont donné du travail à beaucoup d’Africains, les emplois créés sont de mauvaise qualité, comme la pandémie l'a bien montré. Dans ce contexte, les auteurs examinent la situation particulière des chauffeurs VTC en Afrique en s'appuyant sur des entretiens approfondis, réalisés au Kenya, et sur les méthodes de l'ethnographie virtuelle. Ils montrent que ces travailleurs ont recours à un «régime de débrouille», associant résilience, réajustement et résistance. Pour améliorer les conditions de travail et lutter contre la précarité dans le secteur, il faut à la fois que les pouvoirs publics instaurent des cadres réglementaires et que les travailleurs se mobilisent collectivement.

 Mots‐cléséconomie à la tâche plateformes de travail numérique chauffeurs de VTC Uber COVID‐19 travailleurs informels Afrique

 

 Agunbiade, Tola. 2016. «Uber Drivers in Abuja are Going on Strike, Starting Today», Techcabal  , 31 octobre 2016. https://techcabal.com/2016/10/31/uber-drivers-abuja-strike/. Amorim, Henrique, et FelipeModa. 2020. «Work by App: Algorithmic Management and Working Conditions of Uber Drivers in Brazil», Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation  , 14 (1): 101–118. Anwar, Mohammad Amir. 2022. «Platforms of Inequality: Gender Dynamics of Digital Labour in Africa», Gender & Development  , 30 (3): 747–764. Anwar, Mohammad Amir, et MarkGraham. 2020. «Hidden Transcripts of the Gig Economy: Labour Agency and the New Art of Resistance Among African Gig Workers», Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space  , 52 (7): 1269–1291. Anwar, Mohammad Amir, et MarkGraham. 2021. «Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Freedom, Flexibility, Precarity and Vulnerability in the Gig Economy in Africa», Competition & Change  , 25 (2): 237–258. Anwar, Mohammad Amir, et MarkGraham. 2022. The Digital Continent: Placing Africa in Planetary Networks of Work. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Anwar, Mohammad Amir, EllyOtieno et MalteStein. 2022. «Locked In, Logged Out: Pandemic and Ride-Hailing in South Africa and Kenya», Journal of Modern African Studies  , article accepté pour publication, disponible en ligne. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-modern-african-studies/article/locked-in-logged-out-pandemic-and-ridehailing-in-south-africa-and-kenya/B66C20CF8BB84889CD949AB7376C65A0. Banque mondiale. 2016. World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends  . Washington. [Résumé en français sous le titre «Rapport sur le développement dans le monde 2016: les dividendes du numérique». Washington.] Barbosa, Sérgio, et StefaniaMilan. 2019. «Do Not Harm in Private Chat Apps: Ethical Issues for Research on and with WhatsApp», Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture  , 14 (1): 49–65. Berg, Janine, MarianneFurrer, EllieHarmon, UmaRani et M. SixSilberman. 2019. Les plateformes de travail numérique et l'avenir du travail: pour un travail décent dans le monde en ligne. Genève: BIT. Block, Emily S., et LauraErskine. 2012. «Interviewing by Telephone: Specific Considerations, Opportunities, and Challenges», International Journal of Qualitative Methods  , 11 (4): 428–445. Booth, Robert. 2020. «Uber Driver Dies from Covid-19 after Hiding it Over Fear of Eviction», The Guardian  , 17 avril 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/uber-driver-dies-from-covid-19-after-hiding-it-over-fear-of-eviction. Business Insider South Africa. 2020. «Uber Eats Strike in Gauteng May Spread to Other Cities as Drivers Protest Fee Cuts  », 19 décembre 2020. https://www.businessinsider.co.za/uber-eats-strike-in-gauteng-2020-12. Callebert, Ralph. 2012. «Cleaning the Wharves: Pilferage, Bribery, and Social Connections on the Durban Docks in the 1950s», Canadian Journal of African Studies/Revue canadienne des études africaines  , 46 (1): 23–38. Callebert, Ralph. 2017. On Durban's Docks: Zulu Workers, Rural Households, Global Labor. Rochester: University of Rochester Press. Cant, Callum. 2019. Riding for Deliveroo: Resistance in the New Economy. Londres: Polity Press. Carmody, Pádraig, et AliciaFortuin. 2019. «“Ride-Sharing”, Virtual Capital and Impacts on Labor in Cape Town, South Africa», African Geographical Review  , 38 (3): 196–208. Central Bank of Kenya. 2020a. Twenty Fourth Bi-Annual Report of the Monetary Policy Committee - April 2020  . Nairobi. Central Bank of Kenya. 2020b. Monetary Policy Statement - December 2020  . Nairobi. Chen, Martha. 2020. «COVID-19, Cities and Urban Informal Workers: India in Comparative Perspective», Indian Journal of Labour Economics  , 63 (Suppl. 1): S41–S46. Chen, Martha, et FrançoiseCarré (dir.). 2020. The Informal Economy Revisited: Examining the Past, Envisioning the Future. Abingdon: Routledge. Chidziwisano, George Hope, SusanWyche et RelliksonKisyula. 2020. «SmartChama: Designing Collaborative Digital Financial Systems for Chama Groups in Kenya», dans Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development. New York: Association for Computing Machinery. Cooper, Frederick. 1987. On the African Waterfront: Urban Disorder and the Transformation of Work in Colonial Mombasa. New Haven: Yale University Press. Dahir, Abdi Latif. 2018. «Uber and Other Ride-Hailing Apps are Facing a Major Test in Kenya – From Drivers Themselves», Quartz Africa  , 13 juillet 2018. https://qz.com/africa/1327568/uber-taxify-little-cab-kenya-drivers-end-strike/. Dubal, Veena. 2019. «Uber's New Loan Program Could Trap Drivers in Cycles of Crushing Debt», The Guardian  , 5 décembre 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/05/uber-loan-program-debt. Elkins, Caroline. 2005. Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya. New York: Henry Holt and Company. Ens, Nicola, et AttilaMárton. 2021. «“Sure, I Saw Sales, but It Consumed Me” from Resilience to Erosion in the Digital Hustle Economy», New Media & Society  , article accepté pour publication, disponible en ligne. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211054005. Finextra. 2016. «Uber Kenya and Sidian Bank Launch Car Financing Service  », 25 mai 2016. https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/64585/uber-kenya-and-sidian-bank-launch-car-financing-service. Gandini, Alessandro. 2019. «Labour Process Theory and the Gig Economy», Human Relations  , 72 (6): 1039–1056. Giddy, Julia Kathryn. 2019. «The Influence of E-Hailing Apps on Urban Mobilities in South Africa», African Geographical Review  , 38 (3): 227–239. Goods, Caleb, AlexVeen et TomBarratt. 2019. «“Is Your Gig Any Good?” Analysing Job Quality in the Australian Platform-Based Food-Delivery Sector», Journal of Industrial Relations  , 61 (4): 502–527. Graham, Mark, et Mohammad AmirAnwar. 2018a. «Labour», dans Digital Geographies, publ. sous la dir. deJamesAsh, RobKitchin et AgnieszkaLeszczynski, 177–187. Londres: Sage. Graham, Mark, et Mohammad AmirAnwar. 2018b. «Two Models for a Fairer Sharing Economy», dans The Cambridge Handbook of the Law of the Sharing Economy, publ. sous la dir. deNestor M.Davidson, MichèleFinck et John J.Infranca, 328–340. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gray, Mary L., et SiddharthSuri. 2019. Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Grunewald, Adam. 2019. «A Gig Economy Solution to Boost Employment in Africa», Brookings  , 20 mars 2019. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2019/03/20/a-gig-economy-solution-to-boost-employment-in-africa/. Hart, Keith. 1973. «Informal Income Opportunities and Urban Employment in Ghana», Journal of Modern African Studies  , 11 (1): 61–89. Herod, Andrew. 1997. «From a Geography of Labor to a Labor geography: Labor's Spatial Fix and the Geography of Capitalism», Antipode  , 29 (1): 1–31. Herod, Andrew. 2001. Labor Geographies: Workers and the Landscapes of Capitalism. New York: Guilford Press. Honwana, Alcinda Manuel. 2012. The Time of Youth: Work, Social Change, and Politics in Africa. Boulder: Kumarian Press/Lynne Rienner Publishers. Huws, Ursula, Neil H.Spencer, Dag S.Syrdal et KaireHolts. 2017. Work in the European Gig Economy: Research Results from the UK, Sweden, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy. Bruxelles: Fondation européenne d’études progressistes. Iazzolino, Gianluca. 2021. «“Going Karura”: Colliding Subjectivities and Labour Struggle in Nairobi's Gig Economy», Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space  , article accepté pour publication, disponible en ligne. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X211031916. insight2impact. 2018. «African Digital Platforms and the Future of Digital Financial Services  », 20 décembre 2018. https://i2ifacility.org/insights/articles/african-digital-platforms-and-the-future-of-digital-financial-services?entity=news. Intelligent Transport. 2018. «Cairo Welcomes the Debut of Uber's Minibus Service “Uber Bus”  », 5 décembre 2018. https://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-news/74089/cairo-uber-minibus-service/. Kagondu, Wairimu. 2014. «Online Work: A New Frontier for Digital Jobs Africa», The Rockefeller Foundation  , 17 mars 2014. https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/blog/online-work-new-frontier-digital-jobs/. Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. 2019. Economic Survey 2019  . Nairobi. Kesar, Surbhi, RosaAbraham, RahulLahoti, PaaritoshNath et AmitBasole. 2021. «Pandemic, Informality, and Vulnerability: Impact of COVID-19 on Livelihoods in India», Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue canadienne d’études du développement  , 42 (1-2): 145–164. Kinyanjui, Mary Njeri. 2014. Women and the Informal Economy in Urban Africa: From the Margins to the Centre. Londres: Zed Books. Kuek, Siou Chew, Cecilia MariaParadi-Guilford, ToksFayomi, SaoriImaizumi et PanosIpeirotis. 2015. «The Global Opportunity in Online Outsourcing», Report Number ACS14228. Washington: Banque mondiale. Macharia, Ken. 2017. «Uber Has 363,000 Active Riders in Kenya Driven by 5,000 Drivers», Capital Business  , 28 septembre 2017. https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/2017/09/uber-has-363000-active-riders-in-kenya-driven-by-5000-drivers/. Meagher, Kate. 2018. «Rewiring the Social Contract: Digital Taxis and Economic Inclusion in Nigeria  », document présenté à la conférence intitulée «Overcoming Inequalities in a Fractured World: Between Elite Power and Social Mobilization», organisée par l'Institut de recherche des Nations Unies pour le développement social (UNRISD), Genève, 8-9 novembre 2018. Muchira, Njiraini. 2019. «Auctioneer's Hammer to Fall on Uber Cars», The East African  , 6 avril 2019. https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/business/auctioneer-s-hammer-to-fall-on-uber-cars-1415606. Muriuki, Benjamin. 2020. «Ethiopian Taxi Hailing App Taxiye Enters Kenyan Market», Citizen Digital  , 29 septembre 2020. https://citizentv.co.ke/business/ethiopian-taxi-hailing-app-taxiye-enters-kenyan-market-346518/. Nyawira, Susan, et CynthiaChebet. 2019. «Uber, Bolt Drivers Strike over Unimplemented MoU», The Star  , 15 juillet 2019. https://www.the-star.co.ke/business/2019-07-15-uber-bolt-drivers-strike-over-unimplemented-mou/. Odenyo, Akello. 2020. «Car-Boot Market Thrives During Pandemic», The Star  , 26 mai 2020. https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2020-05-26-car-boot-market-thrives-during-pandemic/. Odhiambo, Vincent. 2021. «Taxi Hailing App Drivers Reject Imposition of Digital Tax», Metropol TV  , 23 février 2021. https://metropoltv.co.ke/2021/02/23/taxi-hailing-app-drivers-reject-imposition-of-digital-tax/. OIT. 2019. Femmes et hommes dans l'économie informelle: un panorama statistique, troisième édition. Genève: BIT. OIT. 2020. «OIT: Alors que les pertes d’emploi s'intensifient, près de la moitié de la main-d’œuvre mondiale risque de perdre ses moyens de subsistance  », communiqué de presse, 29 avril 2020. https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_743112/lang–fr/index.htm. OIT. 2021a. Emploi et questions sociales dans le monde: le rôle des plateformes numériques dans la transformation du monde du travail. Genève: BIT. OIT. 2021b. Observatoire de l'OIT: le COVID-19 et le monde du travail. Septième édition, 25 janvier 2021. Genève: BIT. Otieno, Elly, MalteStein et Mohammad AmirAnwar. 2021. «Ride Hailing Drivers Left Alone at the Wheel: Reflections from South Africa and Kenya», dans COVID-19 in the Global South: Impacts and Responses, publ. sous la dir. dePádraigCarmody, GerardMcCann, ClodaghColleran et CiaraO'Halloran, 95–104. Bristol: Bristol University Press. Pollio, Andrea. 2019. «Forefronts of the Sharing Economy: Uber in Cape Town», International Journal of Urban and Regional Research  , 43 (4): 760–775. Prinsloo, Loni, TopeAlake et BellaGenga. 2021a. «Uber and Bolt Drivers in Nigeria and Kenya Protest Over Rising Costs», Business Day  , 19 avril 2021. https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/companies/2021-04-19-uber-and-bolt-drivers-in-nigeria-and-kenya-protest-over-rising-costs/. Prinsloo, Loni, TopeAlake et BellaGenga. 2021b. «Uber, Bolt Drivers in Africa Protest High Cost of Operations», Bloomberg  , 19 avril 2021. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-19/uber-bolt-drivers-in-africa-protests-higher-costs-of-operations. Radulovic-Viswanatha, Neda. 2020. «App-Based Drivers Will Not Be Taken for a Ride», Counterfire  , 26 juillet 2020. https://www.counterfire.org/articles/opinion/21455-app-based-drivers-will-not-be-taken-for-ride. Rani, Uma, et MarianneFurrer. 2021. «Digital Labour Platforms and New Forms of Flexible Work in Developing Countries: Algorithmic Management of Work and Workers», Competition & Change  , 25 (2): 212–236. Ravenelle, Alexandrea J.2019. Hustle and Gig: Struggling and Surviving in the Sharing Economy. Oakland: University of California Press. Reuters. 2018. «Kenya Ride Hailing Taxi Drivers Reach Deal for Higher Fares after Week of Strike  », 11 juillet 2018. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kenya-taxis-idUSKBN1K12F1. Rosenblat, Alex. 2018. Uberland: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules of Work. Oakland: University of California Press. Samuel, Vineet John. 2020. «Uberizing Informality: The Case of Non-Owner, Driver-Partners in the City of Hyderabad», Indian Journal of Labour Economics  , 63: 511–524. Schradie, Jen. 2015. «Political Ideology, Social Media, and Labor Unions: Using the Internet to Reach the Powerful, Not Mobilize the Powerless», International Journal of Communication  , 9: 1985–2006. Shankar, Kalpana. 2018. «Ethnography, Documents, and Big Data: Reflections on Teaching with David Hakken», Anthropology of Work Review  , 39 (1): 17–21. Sperber, Amanda. 2020. «Uber Made Big Promises in Kenya. Drivers Say It's Ruined Their Lives», NBC News  , 30 novembre 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/uber-made-big-promises-kenya-drivers-say-it-s-ruined-n1247964. Srnicek, Nick. 2018. Capitalisme de plateforme: l'hégémonie de l'économie numérique  . Montréal, Lux, 2018. Thieme, Tatiana Adeline. 2018. «The Hustle Economy: Informality, Uncertainty and the Geographies of Getting By», Progress in Human Geography  , 42 (4): 529–548. TradeMark East Africa. 2021. The Effects of Covid-19 on Women Cross Border Traders in East Africa  . Nairobi. Uber. 2020a. 2019 Annual Report  . San Francisco. Uber. 2020b. «A First Step Toward a New Model for Independent Platform Work  », 10 août 2020. https://www.uber.com/newsroom/working-together-priorities/. Uber. 2020c. «2020 Investor Presentation  », 6 février 2020. https://s23.q4cdn.com/407969754/files/doc_financials/2019/sr/InvestorPresentation_2020_Feb13.pdf. Uber. Sans date. «Vehicle Finance in Kenya  ». https://www.uber.com/ke/en/drive/vehicle-solutions/leasing/?city=nairobi. Upwork. 2015. «Freelancers Union and Upwork Release New Study Revealing Insights into the Almost 54 Million People Freelancing in America  », 1er octobre 2015. https://www.upwork.com/press/2015/10/01/freelancers-union-and-upwork-release-new-study-revealing-insights-into-the-almost-54-million-people-freelancing-in-america/. Vallas, Steven, et Juliet B.Schor. 2020. «What Do Platforms Do? Understanding the Gig Economy», Annual Review of Sociology  , 46: 273–294. vanDoorn, Niels, et AdamBadger. 2020. «Platform Capitalism's Hidden Abode: Producing Data Assets in the Gig Economy», Antipode  , 52 (5): 1475–1495. Vigh, Henrik. 2006. Navigating Terrains of War: Youth and Soldiering in Guinea-Bissau. New York: Berghahn Books Wahito, Margaret. 2017. «Uber Increases Price in Kenya after Drivers' Protest», Capital Business  , 16 mars 2017. https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/2017/03/uber-increases-price-in-kenya-after-drivers-protest/. Webster, Edward, KatherineJoynt et ThabangSefalafala. 2016. «Informalization and Decent Work: Labour's Challenge», Progress in Development Studies  , 16 (2): 203–218. Woodcock, Jamie. 2021. «The Limits of Algorithmic Management: On Platforms, Data, and Workers' Struggle», South Atlantic Quarterly  , 120 (4): 703–713.