...GMB PERSPECTIVE... UBER EMPLOYMENT COURT RULING
The following is a combination of facts and my own personal opinion on the difference between local cab companies and Uber that explains
the different working models and the position that Uber is in now and which way it may now operate following the recent court ruling:
The main question is how this now impacts on the trade for local cab companies? Will all cab drivers that work for local companies no longer be regarded as self-employed and instead become employees? And what will Uber do now?
We have to look at differences in the Uber model and the way that ‘most’ local cab companies work, although some cab companies work in a similar way to Uber. The main difference with Uber is that it has always controlled all the money. It takes the fare directly from the customer, holds onto it, deducts the commission and only then pays the driver.
Additionally it runs a rating system for drivers used by customers which is effectively a performance monitoring system. This is very much on par with where an employer carries out regular assessments on a member of staff.
ASSOCIATIONS/CO-OPERATIVES
When a cab company is run as an Association/ Co-operative, such as Brighton & Hove Streamline Taxis 202020, there is a major difference in that this type of set up is non-profit making and owned by the drivers being ‘Full Members’. Effectively it is run like a club and any profits are paid back to the members, or put back into the company for the benefit of the members.
All the full member drivers are equal partners sharing responsibilities and decision making and elect Directors/Committee members from the membership to head the company. I have been a full member of Streamline for thirty-eight years and we run a mixed fleet of private hire vehicles and hackney taxis with the councils controlled tariff of fares.
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With Streamline there is a slight variation whereby there are also ‘Associate Members’ who do not own the company but these members still benefit from being part of a non-profit making association.
All fares taken by drivers on Streamline are paid direct from the customer to the drivers. Even the Streamline company App fares are paid out in full including account work with no commission deducted. Financing the running of Streamline as a Full Member or as an Associate Member is paid for via a weekly/monthly subscription and not based on a percentage of work carried out.
There are many Associations/Co-operative cab companies like this throughout the UK and I do not see anything changing with respect to the employment case and such drivers will remain self-employed.
PRIVATELY OWNED CAB COMPANIES
Even with privately owned companies the general historic system is that the customers also pay the drivers directly (albeit account work) with no commis- sion deducted and on a weekly/monthly subscription basis.
However, there are some privately owned companies that work similar to the Uber model which could be the major difference as to whether drivers remain self-employed or not. This is where dispatch systems are used which facilitate an ‘app meter’ for recording the value of the fare which is also known as a ‘soft meter’ and works via a mobile phone with the company driver app. Generally these are not allowed for hackney taxis as those meters need to comply to specific standards and sealed and fares are set by the local council and proper meters are used.
Where those companies have the fare calculated by the soft meter (which is set by the cab company and not the local council) the fare total is sent back to the office and calculated and the customer charged, which would either be instantly or via an agreed method and no direct payment is made by the customer to the
MARCH 2021
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