UBER UPDATE
UBER AND UK UNION BOSSES TO MEET AFTER LANDMARK DEAL ON WORKERS’ RIGHTS
The UK boss of Uber is to meet with the new leader of a trade union for the first time since a landmark court ruling on workers’ rights. BBC News reports that Jamie Heywood and GMB general secretary, Gary Smith, seek to end years of discord over the ride-hailing giant’s business practices. Uber recognised the union for the first time in May after the Supreme Court ruled its drivers should be classes as workers and entitled to better rights. In a joint statement ahead of the meeting, Uber and GMB said an estimated 230,000 drivers were not receiving “their legal rights” from companies such as Bolt and Addison Lee. However, Addison Lee boss Liam Griffin rejected the claims, saying drivers were “at the heart” of his business. “We guarantee the drivers who work with us get the London Living Wage level of earnings, as opposed to only the National Minimum Wage paid by Uber and also get access to a pension and holiday pay,” he said. Bolt said drivers were “free to choose which platform they use and record numbers are continuing to earn through Bolt”. “We don’t take business advice from competitors motivated by their own agenda,” the firm said. Under the May deal between Uber and GMB, the union will be able to represent up to 70,000 Uber drivers across the UK regarding earnings, pensions, benefits and their health and wellbeing. The agreement came after Uber lost the third and final stage of a five-year legal battle with drivers who claimed it had wrongly classified their employment status. For years, Uber resisted calls to recognise unions, which had criticised the firm for not granting drivers basic rights. Mr Smith said the deal with Uber was the “first step towards a fairer working life for millions of people”. “It showed when companies and trade unions work together, standards can be raised across these industries,” he said He said the Supreme Court ruling had set a precedent for all ride-hailing apps and urged others to follow. “GMB and Uber take the next step in our commitment to ending the exploitation of hundreds of thousands of ride-hailing app drivers,” Mr Smith added. Jamie Heywood, Uber’s regional general manager for north- ern and eastern Europe, said he hoped working with GMB would “show the rest of the industry what can be achieved”. “We may not seem like obvious allies, but together we made history by striking a recognition agreement to improve workers’ protections and, crucially, give drivers a stronger say in how Uber operates,” he added. The Supreme Court had now “clarified” the law and given Uber the “mechanism” that it needed to act, he said. When it was put to him that Uber had spent years exploiting that very ambiguity, he denied the charge, saying the firm was now able to “keep the flexibility that workers value, but also provide them with the protection that they deserve”.
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UBER TO PAY PENSIONS TO ALL ITS UK DRIVERS, BACKDATED TO 2017
Uber is to pay out millions of pounds in missed pension payments to UK drivers dating back as far as 2017 under a deal with the retirement savings watchdog and has called on rival operators to create a cross-industry pension scheme. According to the Guardian, the ride hailing company was forced to guarantee its 70,000 UK drivers a minimum hourly wage, holiday pay and pensions in March this year after a landmark supreme court ruling over their employment status. Couriers for the group’s UberEats food delivery ser- vice are not included in the deal. On Friday 24 September, Uber said its private hire drivers would now be auto-enrolled on to a scheme through which it would contribute 3% of earnings into a pension pot. Drivers can choose to contribute up to 5% of qualifying earnings but will be able to opt out. Drivers will also receive back payments dating back to 1 May 2017 or the date of their first trip if they joined more recently. Uber, whose scheme is provided by NOW: Pensions and managed by Adecco, called on rival operators to help create a cross-industry scheme so that drivers who worked across several apps would always benefit. Jamie Heywood, Uber’s regional general manager of northern and eastern Europe, said: “We want to ensure that all eligible drivers can benefit no matter who they earn with, so today I am extending an invitation to work with operators such as Bolt, Addison Lee and Ola to create a cross-industry pension scheme.”
Mick Rix, national officer of the GMB union, which agreed a recognition deal with Uber in May, said: “Uber’s pension scheme is a massive step in the right direction and will no doubt help thousands of drivers as they reach retirement age. GMB urges other platform-based operators to follow Uber’s lead.” James Farrer, general secretary of the ADCU union, said: “Uber’s 3% pension contribution is welcome but it falls far short of what drivers deserve. Poor pay and Uber’s failure to pay waiting time continue to be a huge source of discontent for the workforce, which is why the ADCU is staging a 24- hour Uber driver strike across eight UK cities on 28 September.” Uber’s deal comes after a supreme court ruling found the ride hailing group’s private hire drivers should be classed as workers, with rights to minimum hourly pay, holiday pay and a pension. The company had previously classed them as independent self-employed contractors with few rights. In May, the UK’s pension regulator said it was working closely with Uber on its scheme and called on all gig econo- my companies to recognise the employment rights of those who work for them and set up workplace pensions.
OCTOBER 2021
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