Finally, on February 19, the Supreme Court ordered Uber to recognize its responsibility and treat its drivers as workers. This multi-billion dollar company should no longer be able to ignore the basic rights of its drivers such as sick pay, vacation time and the right to a minimum wage. The case marked the beginning of a better and more stable future for Uber drivers and finally turns against a gig economy that too often benefits from pushing back hard-won rights.
I am delighted that the hard work of former Uber drivers James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam in defending their rights has paid off. They first brought their case to a labor court in 2016, and their determination to defend their rights in court has been inspiring to watch.
As a green member of the London Assembly, I have supported Uber drivers throughout the legal process. In 2017, I got the congregation to approve a motion calling on the mayor to seek authority with the government to make workers’ rights a condition of all future private landlord licenses.
It was part of a struggle that was far too long. The government should have intervened years ago. With Westminster on its heels, Uber’s illegal business model inundated the market with cheap rides and disrupted existing taxi and home rental companies.
They did not provide a safety net for their workers and benefited from the poverty, pollution and congestion that resulted from the entry and disruption of London’s taxi and private rental businesses.
Uber has claimed it wasn’t in control of revenue, but it was just a breeze. The company set the tariffs, fees and contract terms that drivers had to adhere to. At the same time, the company had the opportunity to punish drivers who did not accept tariffs and could stop their service. Ultimately, their business model allowed them to shirk their responsibilities while giving them profitable control over drivers. This was particularly devastating during the pandemic, as drivers – many of whom were indebted to car purchase deals – faced massively reduced customer numbers while being excluded from support from companies and vacation programs.
Uber also had a cynical advantage over other minicab companies and taxi drivers. Claiming to be a technology company and not a minicab company, it dodged millions in VAT every year. This has denied the government much needed funding while threatening the livelihood of drivers in properly run businesses.
There has been a huge impact on our city in terms of traffic congestion, road hazards and air pollution. Uber could afford to flood the private rental market with drivers and clog the streets with traffic and pollution. The navigation system in the Uber app led drivers down what were once quiet residential streets. In the meantime, drivers had to work longer and longer, driving tiredly to service the loans for their cars and pay their bills.
The ruling gives drivers the basic labor rights they deserve. The government should act now to strengthen the rights that workers have gained through appropriate legislation. There is currently a risk that every Uber driver will have to bring their own case in order to have their fundamental rights recognized.
What we have to do is make it fairer. To prevent a company from taking advantage of its position again, employee rights should be a condition of licensing. This, in turn, was part of my motion for Uber, which the London Assembly passed in 2017.
App-based taxi and minicab rentals are not going away, the technology is here now, and most of us have smartphones. Transport for London, as the city’s integrated transport agency, should use data on taxis and private rentals to protect its public purpose. I met with Meera Joshi, former chair of the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission in 2019 to learn how this city is using data (with adequate privacy protections) to enable regulation that meets the needs of drivers, passengers, and other people in the city.
The Mayor of London should now not only use Uber’s London license to require them to obey the court ruling and treat drivers as workers, but also work on new models for regulating private rent using data. This would allow Transport for London to manage the taxis and minicabs on our streets and keep the big companies like Uber honest. The data could also track how long drivers have been registered and how the average number of tariffs they receive in a given hour is compared to the minimum wage.
HMRC must collect the unpaid VAT that Uber owes in principle and in a practical manner. That money could go into the budget of Transport for London, which has been so badly hit by the pandemic. The company must also compensate its drivers for the years they worked under unfair and illegal conditions.
The Supreme Court decision provides an opportunity to rebalance the taxi and private rental markets for the good of our city, these working drivers and their customers.