Nine hours’ work for CHF70: Uber drivers in Switzerland demand better conditions 

Uber driver Cem Kurun, who works in canton Zurich, is speaking out about his deteriorating working conditions. Luca Zanetti

Uber drivers in Switzerland complain of falling pay, growing competition and a lack of transparency over the algorithms determining fares and rides. They want authorities to grant greater rights and protection. 

Thirty-year-old Cem Kurun has been driving for Uber in canton Zurich since 2019. Over the years, he says, working conditions have deteriorated significantly, with lower fares and fierce competition among private transport providers and taxi drivers. The Covid pandemic and the arrival of Uber’s Estonian rival Bolt on the Zurich market in 2024 have made the situation worse, he says. 

Kurun says he once managed to earn CHF1,200 ($1,437) working around 30 hours a week. Now, he makes just over CHF300. On the day he spoke to Swissinfo, he had made CHF70 after nine hours of work. 

“As soon as I set the price even 10 cents higher than Uber’s price per kilometre, I stop getting rides,” says Kurun. Luca Zanetti

“How would I support a family? Would I have to turn to social services just to avoid starving?” he says. According to Kurun, many drivers are forced to rely on social assistance. “We drivers are the ones paying the price for this race to the bottom,” he says. 

Beyond falling fares, Kurun complains that he has little real control over his work, despite operating as an independent driver. He suspects Uber’s app of algorithmic manipulation, including by penalising drivers who reject too many rides and displaying areas on the map that promise higher earnings, only for those to disappear once drivers arrive. He also casts doubt on whether drivers really have the freedom to set their own fares. 

In theory, the Uber app allows drivers to set their own price. “But as soon as I set the price even 10 cents higher than Uber’s price per kilometre, I stop getting rides,” Kurun says. 

Uber argues that drivers can accept or reject trips without penalty and that acceptance and cancellation rates are not used to determine how drivers are matched with passengers or to personalise fares.

According to Kurun, many drivers are forced to rely on social assistance. “We are the ones paying the price for this race to the bottom,” he says. Luca Zanetti

Largest Swiss trade union: ‘Uber operates illegally’

The status of Uber drivers has been the subject of legal disputes in Switzerland for years. 

Cem Kurun checks his phone many times a day to find rides. Luca Zanetti

According to the country’s largest trade union, Unia, the degree of control Uber exercises over its drivers is incompatible with actual self-employment. Drivers have no real freedom of choice and must comply with the working conditions imposed on them, says Philipp Zimmermann, a spokesperson for the union.  

As a result, Zimmermann says, drivers are deprived of wages, expense reimbursements and social security contributions to which they are entitled as employees. 

Several rulingsExternal link at the cantonal and federal level have found that drivers using Uber’s services should be considered employees. As early as 2018, Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) indicated that Uber drivers should be classified as such.

“What Uber is doing in Switzerland is completely illegal. Drivers continue to work under conditions of ‘false self-employment’. The authorities have a duty to put an end to this illegal model,” Zimmermann says. 

Uber disputes this interpretation. The company points out that it has changed its operating model and the terms and conditions applying to drivers several times, and argues that previous court rulings, which concerned earlier contractual models, cannot automatically be applied to the current situation. 

Uber also says the majority of drivers value the independence and flexibility offered by its app and that it provides independent partner drivers in Switzerland with free insurance coverage against certain risks. 

Cem Kurun drives through Zurich on September 23, 2026. He hopes cantonal authorities will do more to protect people working via platforms like Uber. Luca Zanetti

The Geneva exception

After a years-long legal battle, Uber changed its operating model in the canton of GenevaExternal link. Today, most drivers using the platform are employed through a third-party company. Uber also reached an agreement with the cantonExternal link to regularise the preceding period and pay outstanding social security contributions. 

For drivers, however, enforcing their rights does not always appear straightforward. Former Uber driver Guillaume Lemoine, who worked in Geneva, told Swissinfo that he had no choice but to take legal action against Uber to recover what he says are unpaid wages and work-related expenses from his time working for the company. The dispute is still ongoing.  

Like Kurun, Lemoine describes falling fares since the Covid pandemic, “false autonomy” over pricing and penalties for behaviour such as rejecting rides. When he tried to contact Uber to report problems or technical issues, Lemoine says, “it felt like talking to robots”. 

>> From Switzerland to Europe: how drivers’ fight against Uber began in Geneva:

A battle beyond Switzerland 

Kurun believes authorities in Zurich should also do more to protect people working through platforms like Uber. In 2021, Zurich’s Social Insurance Court ruled that drivers using several Uber services should be considered employees. The Swiss Federal Court confirmedExternal link the ruling in 2023. Despite this, Kurun says nothing has changed and his working conditions have deteriorated. 

Uber drivers are calling for more rights and protections in several other European countries as well. In early September, hundreds of thousands of drivers launched a collective action against Uber in the Netherlands, where the technology company has its European headquarters. Among other things, they are challenging its use of automated systems to determine pay and allocate rides. 

At the same time, a group of French drivers, supported by Geneva-based organisation PersonalData.IO, specialising in personal data rights, is preparing a second collective action. According to Paul-Olivier Dehaye, the association’s founder, the compensation being sought could amount to €40,000 per driver. 

Edited by Veronica De Vore/dos