Uber will classify some 70,000 drivers in the UK as workers and give them some benefits after losing an appeal to the Supreme Court in February, after a legal battle of years over their employment situation. Drivers will still not be considered full-time employees, but will receive a minimum wage, vacation and will be enrolled in the pension plan as of March 17.
The decision in February was one of the biggest victories so far for pilots and mass concert workers in the UK. But that victory came just a few months after California voters approved Proposition 22, an electoral measure that reversed an earlier decision to classify drivers as employees. And despite repeated claims that classifying drivers as employees would make things more expensive for customers, all the big companies in the gig economy have since raised prices anyway. Uber, which helped finance the effort to pass Proposal 22, is now looking to make similar moves in the European Union.
The case that Uber lost in February started in 2016, when two drivers argued that Uber had too much control over its actions to no be considered your employer. Uber lost, but continued to appeal to the UK Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court’s rulings in February.
Uber and companies like this have long argued that classifying drivers too strictly would make it harder for them to work when they wish, and that flexibility was just as, if not more, important than the benefits and other protections provided by an employment status. more official.
In an opinion article published Tuesday in Evening StandardUber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that it is “increasingly clear to us that flexibility alone is insufficient and that it should not be at the expense of social protection”. But he added that he believes that “outdated labor laws basically enforce this compensation”.