Drivers signed up with leading ride-hailing taxi aggregator Uber launched another round of strike in Kochi on Friday (July 31, 2026) reiterating their long-pending demands. The Online Taxi Drivers Union (OTDU) claimed that around 2,000 drivers in the city have gone offline from the platform as part of the agitation.

The union decided to launch a fresh strike alleging that the global platform did not honour its promise to hold talks with the drivers on July 30 to discuss their demands including pay revision. “The company had agreed to hold talks on July 30 following a days-long State-wide protest staged by us last week. However, they refused to come forward for a meeting citing security issues. Hence, we decided to go on strike again,” Sahir K.T. President, OTDU, said. The company has not issued any response on the allegation yet.

Mr. Sahir said the Labour Department has convened a meeting with the representatives of the drivers and the company on August 3 in Thiruvananthapuram. Representatives of various unions from Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Thrissur and Kozhikode are expected to attend the meet, he said. He said as part of the fresh strike, no driver was being forced to go offline.

During the first round of talks, drivers had stayed away from other ride-hailing apps also. However, they called off the strike after the companies agreed to hike the base fare as per the driver’s demand.

The drivers’ major demands to Uber include standardise fares across the State, increase charges for inter-city rides, reduce the company’s commission, stop terminating services allegedly citing minor technical errors and make police clearance certificate compulsory for all drivers signing up with the platform.