Vietnam's Grab drivers call for two-day app boycott over falling earnings

HANOI, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Vietnamese ride-hailing drivers working for Singapore's Grab have used social media to call on colleagues to boycott the app this weekend, saying a rise in service charges has cut their income to unsustainably low levels.

Drivers have been sharing screenshots showing their reduced earnings on Facebook, and are urging others to stop accepting rides on Saturday and Sunday in protest.

"Let's all stand together, switch off the app and take a break to demand fairness," one Facebook user said in a post in a public group called the Vietnam Grab Driver Community, which has 169,000 members.

Grab didn't immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the boycott.

Drivers claimed that since Grab changed its payment structure in July, deductions could now amount to as much as 50% of the fare, a report by state-run VTC News said on Thursday.

Such a cut would leave drivers with net earnings of roughly 2,600 dong ($0.10) per kilometre for motorcycle rides and about 6,000 dong ($0.2317) per kilometre for car trips, and they still need to pay for fuel, maintenance and vehicle depreciation costs, it added.

However, one user said in the Facebook group that "if Grab were to pull out of Vietnam, drivers would be left with nothing."

Grab is one of Vietnam's largest ride-hailing operators and also runs food delivery and other digital services in the country.

($1 = 25,900 dong)