Update as of 5.35pm: Grab clarified that drivers who have contracts with LCR will now be allowed to accept Grab bookings. 

Grab’s acquisition of Uber has left several stakeholders in limbo, particularly the Uber employees, Lion City Rental hirers, banned Grab drivers and ComfortDelGro’s cabbies.

It was confirmed yesterday that the Singapore-based ride-hailing firm would be taking over all of Uber’s Southeast Asia’s operations.

However, there is much uncertainty looming over the groups of people affected by the acquisition.

Let’s take a closer look.

500 Uber employees on paid leave

Videos circulating on social media yesterday showed that employees in Uber’s Mapletree Anson office hastily packing their belongings and vacating the premises.

They were allegedly called into a meeting on Monday morning at 10am and logged out of their work systems by 10.30am.

Some Uber employees were told to pack up and leave at 10am while others were told they had until 12.30pm.

It’s uncertain at this point in time if Uber employees have “lost their jobs” as more than 500 of them are placed on paid leave for the next three months.

Grab claimed that there are no layoffs and they are committed to find suitable jobs for all of them.

However, there is no guarantee that no Uber employees would be retrenched at the end of three months.

Grab’s regional head of people Ong Chin Yin said that she could not “foretell whether everyone will accept (the offers made) and whether there’s a right fit for both sides for everyone”.

Also, Grab said not every one of the 500-odd employees would be on paid leave for full three months as they are meeting them over the next few weeks.

Those who have suitable roles at Grab can start work earlier.

Grab has organised a townhall meeting today at 4.30pm for all affected Uber employees to prevent further confusion.

Ong said that Grab will offer similar employment terms to Uber employees and if they reject the offer, Grab will work out a compensation package with them.

According to sources within Uber, 80 per cent of Uber’s employees are contract staff. Some contract staff have alleged that Uber will only pay them till 26 March.

Lion City Rental hirers

Lion City Rental (LCR) is a car rental service, wholly-owned by Uber.

In December last year, ComfortDelGro announced its intention to acquire a 51 per cent stake in LCR. The deal is subject to regulatory approval.

Drivers who rent from LCR are only allowed to drive for Uber.

However, LCR’s physical outlet is closed until further notice. This means that some Uber drivers are left in limbo as they are not sure what will happen to their contract with LCR.

According to some hirers, LCR has sent them a message saying that they will update them via SMS and email “in the coming days”.

Grab revealed that the acquisition does not include LCR but they will be discussing possibilities of having LCR as a fleet partner of GrabRentals.

Labour MP Ang Hin Kee, Executive Advisor to National Private Hire Vehicles Association (NPHVA), have shared LCR hirers’ concerns with LTA and CCS.

Ang said “now that that (Uber) is uncontactable, drivers wouldn’t know what to do next, whether they can move on, whether they are in violation of their contract.”

Update as of 5.35pm: Grab clarified that drivers who have contracts with LCR will now be allowed to accept Grab bookings.

LCR sent a SMS to its hirers this afternoon, reiterating that their rental is not impacted and they are working with Grab to onboard its hirers onto Grab’s platform.

Once the contract with LCR expires, drivers can choose to rent a car from GrabRentals.

Drivers blacklisted on Grab platform

The other stakeholders affected by this acquisition are the drivers who decided to drive Uber since they have been banned on Grab’s platform for various reasons.

Now that Uber will be gone in a flash, will these drivers be given a second chance to rejoin Grab?

Grab has strict policies towards drivers who have been suspended or removed from Grab platform.

The company has previously mentioned that these drivers will not be able to re-register to drive with Grab.

However, a Grab spokesperson said in a statement yesterday that Uber drivers who are banned on Grab’s platform can appeal their suspension and Grab will review the suspension on a case-by-case basis.

ComfortDelGro’s cabbies

In January this year, Uber launched a new service called “UberFLASH” which matches riders with either a ComfortDelGro taxi or an uberX vehicle.

It was a collaborative effort between ComfortDelGro and Uber. This helped ComfortDelGro’s cabbies increase their earnings as they could spend less time plying the roads looking for rides.

UberFlash is really gone in a flash.

This is similar to Grab’s JustGrab platform which offers flat fares to commuters for a ride in either a taxi or private-hire car.

Grab partnered with five other taxi operators about a year ago to offer JustGrab.

The company did offer ComfortDelGro cabbies the option to opt into JustGrab service in February. There was no formal partnership agreement.

However, Grab announced last week (21st March) that the company will be removing ComfortDelGro cabbies from JustGrab service as it’s against current regulations.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) issued Grab a warning letter. Details were not provided but Grab was seen as “undercutting” UberFlash, implemented by its rival.

Drivers in a limbo

Labour MP Ang who is also the Executive Advisor to the National Taxi Association (NTA) is concerned about ComfortDelGro drivers who have been accpepting UberFlash jobs for the past few months.

He said that these cabbies are uncertain about their options and if they can take on JustGrab jobs moving forward.

Ang said that drivers and commuters must be able to access options and choices regardless of acquisition outcome or alliance fleet and apps operators.

The Labour Movement has attempted to contact Uber yesterday to get more information but “all the phone lines, emails were out and we couldn’t get in touch with anybody”.

If you’d like to contribute your story to us, drop us an email at editors@sureboh.sg and we’ll review it. We read each submission that comes to us within two weeks of receiving it.