Offline Work
Offline Work: (Transport, Trades, & Services)
They Own the App. You Own the Risk but Together You Own the Power.
Whether you are behind the wheel or you are fixing a home, or delivering across the city, you are the engine of Kenya's digital and platform economy and yet to the platforms, you are just an expense to be minimized. They call you a "partner or independent contractor" when it is time for you to pay for fuel and repairs, but they act like a boss when it is time to cut your pay.
The Reality of the Trap
The apps are programmed to favor the company, not the person doing the work. You provide the car, the tools, and the body, but they take the profit.
01
You bear 100% of the costs for fuel and maintenance. Verified data shows that operating and maintenance costs for gig workers in Kenya typically consume between 30% and 57% of their gross platform earnings. In essence you are subsidizing the platform's growth with your own property.
02
Pay rates change without notice and while this happens, bonuses are dangled to keep you chasing. Hidden fees eat into your take-home pay, ensuring that while their stock price rises, your margin shrinks.
03
A single "suspicious activity" flag or one bad rating from an unfair client can delete your income in an instant. This happens without a human review or an opportunity to appeal. You need to know that platforms do not respect the years you have invested in your account.
What Participation Secures
Dignity is not a gift. It is a standard that workers enforce together to stop platforms from devaluing our assets.
01
Only by coming together and organizing can we set fair rates that account for your fuel, tools, and the true value of your sweat.
02
No robot should have the power to fire a Kenyan worker. Our fight for a human-led grievance process and an end to unfair, automated deactivations.
03
If you are hurt while moving their goods or people, the company must pay and so you and your fellow gig workers should push for mandatory medical and life cover for every person on the move.
04
In solidarity, we take our collective evidence to ensure the law recognizes you as a worker with rights, not a "user" with none.
Your Participation Is the Weapon
The platforms rely on your isolation. They designed their systems to ensure you feel alone regardless of the thousands of workers in your sector. This is a strategy to weaken you and it is time to prove them wrong. Every report you submit and your high participation in your sector turns your individual struggle into a collective action. Your screenshots of pay theft and deactivations are the ammunition that we will use to force these companies to the negotiating table.
Nothing changes until you act.