London — Uber Technologies plans to formally recognise a trade union in the UK that will give drivers increased powers to collectively bargain while also preserving the company’s worker model.
The ride-hailing giant struck a deal that will allow Uber’s 70,000 drivers in the country to organize and collectively bargain under the GMB labour group. The deal announced on Wednesday will let drivers retain the ability to choose where and when they work, people said.
It’s a move that follows a shake-up in Uber’s biggest European market after a landmark UK supreme court ruling in February forced the company to recognise a group of drivers as workers, entitling them to minimum wage, holiday pay and other benefits. The decision unleashed a slew of similar claims and ultimately Uber said it would extend the classification to all of its drivers in the country. The company reported $600m in expenses related to the ruling in its financial results earlier in May.
The GMB union has more than 620,000 members, representing drivers, delivery workers, government employees and others, and was among labour groups to support the UK court case.
The drivers who were instrumental in the supreme court ruling, who organised under another labour group called the App Drivers & Couriers Union, said they weren’t prepared to enter into a similar agreement with the ride-hailing company, though they welcomed “closer trade union engagement with Uber management”.
“We are disturbed by Uber’s divisive and anti-union behaviour in the US, most recently in California and New York State, where Uber has used the appearance of blunt collective bargaining agreements to actually weaken the power of workers rather than the opposite,” the ADCU said in a statement on its website. “We have concerns about Uber’s motivations on this side of the Atlantic not only in the UK but throughout Europe.”
Uber has inked similar deals with labour groups in several countries, aiming to stem increasingly influential complaints about how drivers are treated while preserving a cornerstone of the company’s business model: the claim that drivers aren’t employees entitled to full workplace protections.
In New York, Uber worked with the International Association of Machinists to launch a group called the Independent Drivers Guild in 2016. Funded by the company and affiliated with the union, the labour group could advocate for changes such as higher pay, but would not challenge the drivers’ classification as independent contractors.
Uber has also been in talks with labour groups in New York about developing a state law that would create a form of collective bargaining for gig workers without making them employees, and a draft of the legislation started circulating last week.
In its home state of California, Uber and other platform companies tried, unsuccessfully, to reach a deal with unions that would exempt them from the state’s new rule requiring employment rights for some workers. After those talks failed, the companies secured an exemption via a $200m ballot measure campaign instead.
Bloomberg News. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
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