Irish Taxi Forum

Public Area => Taxi Talk => Topic started by: Justin Time on February 19, 2021, 10:49:19 am

Title: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: Justin Time on February 19, 2021, 10:49:19 am
Just announced, the Supreme Court in the UK has said that Uber drivers are workers,not “independent contractors” and are entitled to minimum wage and holiday pay.
I’m sure all the taxi companies here are taking note!
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: Shallowhal on February 19, 2021, 11:31:20 am
I doubt it Justin....nowt will change.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: vandriver on February 19, 2021, 12:07:13 pm
Minimum wage is like an unattainable dream.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: markmiwurdz on February 19, 2021, 12:07:41 pm
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56123668 (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56123668)


This will surely have knock on effects here.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: markmiwurdz on February 19, 2021, 12:10:11 pm
The conditions that uber impose on drivers to make they employees are very similar to freenow from what I can see.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: Octavia1 on February 19, 2021, 01:20:47 pm
Delighted....
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: john m on February 19, 2021, 01:35:28 pm
Uber in UK is different from here and Free Now is not the same .In the UK Uber drivers worked EXCLUSIVLY for UBER so they could control your earnings .
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: markmiwurdz on February 19, 2021, 02:09:33 pm
Uber in UK is different from here and Free Now is not the same .In the UK Uber drivers worked EXCLUSIVLY for UBER so they could control your earnings .

That's a slam dunk job so.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: john m on February 19, 2021, 02:17:31 pm
Uber in UK is different from here and Free Now is not the same .In the UK Uber drivers worked EXCLUSIVLY for UBER so they could control your earnings .

That's a slam dunk job so.

The problem with UBER Uk is they were using unlicenced Drivers as well as taxi or Hacks .The Exclusive UBER drivers said because they worked Exclusivly for UBER that they were defacto Employees of UBER and UBER could control their opportunity and access to work ..The Court agreed .Its a FUCKING HUGE judgement for other Gig workers like deliveroo or Just eat .If they control your complete access to the work they are your employers .UBER uk will just drop unlicenced drivers only OFFERING fares to Licenced Operators who can also cover other jobs .Its not going to effect UBER Uk they will just attract more licenced operators to cover the jobs that use to be covered by the now unemployed employees .This judgement was expected and might be why Free Now dropped the Hacks .
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: mercenary for hire on February 19, 2021, 02:57:52 pm
Post up links that prove Uber were using unlicenced drivers in the UK.Otherwise you just made it up Erm.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: john m on February 19, 2021, 03:06:22 pm
Post up links that prove Uber were using unlicenced drivers in the UK.Otherwise you just made it up Erm.

Uber were operating in the Uk like they operate in other parts of the world using private motorists .They cut that out after this case was first taken years ago .So the Judgement will have little if any effect on their business ,It might lead to X drivers looking for their Holiday Pay .This case was complicated it had to go to the Supreme Court and dont rule out an appeal to the house of lords as it will effect other Gig industries .

Go read the entire case if you want to know what its about .
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: mercenary for hire on February 19, 2021, 03:10:38 pm
That's a lie Erm.It never happened.The brits have more rules and regulations than us.Sure yer always going on about Brexit like yer one of the cunts.

It is also incorrect to say that Uber drivers can't run other apps.

There may have been times when you had to be exclusive to them but that was years ago.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: john m on February 19, 2021, 03:14:52 pm
That's a lie Erm.It never happened.The brits have more rules and regulations than us.Sure yer always going on about Brexit like yer one of the cunts.

It is also incorrect to say that Uber drivers can't run other apps.

There may have been times when you had to be exclusive to them but that was years ago.


This judgement is from years ago .its the appeal of the appeal of the appeal and it will be appealed ..I note it says Deivers are entitled to Holiday and sick pay but it didnt say UBER had to pay Employers  National Insurance Contributions for their employees .anyhow its a Foreign country why would we give either of our Fucks about it .
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: Octavia1 on February 19, 2021, 03:57:03 pm
That's a lie Erm.It never happened.The brits have more rules and regulations than us.Sure yer always going on about Brexit like yer one of the cunts.

It is also incorrect to say that Uber drivers can't run other apps.

There may have been times when you had to be exclusive to them but that was years ago.


This judgement is from years ago .its the appeal of the appeal of the appeal and it will be appealed ..I note it says Deivers are entitled to Holiday and sick pay but it didnt say UBER had to pay Employers  National Insurance Contributions for their employees .anyhow its a Foreign country why would we give either of our Fucks about it .
Our legal systmn is based on the British legal system...a bit like rte copies everything dun on english telly .....
All these  american gig companies have basically bypassed every inroads unions have made in the past 100 years and are attempting to put the world back into slavery ......
I was watchin programme on the owlones across the halls telly an it said that thomas Jefferson wrote the declaration of independence an it said quote
" All men are created equal "
An the cnut "  owned " 600 african slaves ....
Delighted to see the brits take action ....probably someone didnt get a big enough brown envelopes tho
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: watty on February 19, 2021, 05:21:32 pm
Post up links that prove Uber were using unlicenced drivers in the UK.Otherwise you just made it up Erm.
Transport for London took away their licence for this reason (& others like not reporting rapes to police!).  Uber only got their licence back last year, I think.

E.g. Uber loses London licence after TfL finds drivers faked identity (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/25/uber-loses-licence-london-tfl)

It was just as bad in America but they don't give a fuk over there.

Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: watty on February 19, 2021, 05:24:36 pm
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56123668 (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56123668)

Quote
Delivering his judgement, Lord Leggatt said that the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed Uber's appeal that it was an intermediary party and stated that drivers should be considered to be working not only when driving a passenger, but whenever logged in to the app.

The court considered several elements in its judgement:

- Uber set the fare which meant that they dictated how much drivers could earn
- Uber set the contract terms and drivers had no say in them
- Request for rides is constrained by Uber who can penalise drivers if they reject too many rides
- Uber monitors a driver's service through the star rating and has the capacity to terminate the relationship if after repeated warnings this does not improve

Looking at these and other factors, the court determined that drivers were in a position of subordination to Uber where the only way they could increase their earnings would be to work longer hours.

In Ireland, I'd say the likes of Deliveroo & Uber Eats etc will be quite nervous right now since out legal system is quite similar to the UK's.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: mercenary for hire on February 19, 2021, 05:30:10 pm
There could easily be drivers on Freenow with faked IDs that haven't been found.

Uber never used private motorists in the UK.Private hire drivers are something different.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: watty on February 19, 2021, 05:47:38 pm
Unlicenced taxi/PH driver = private motorist!

Uber loses London licence after TfL finds drivers faked identity (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/25/uber-loses-licence-london-tfl)

Quote
While TfL said Uber had since made positive improvements, reservations remained – including a change to systems that allowed unauthorised drivers to upload their photos to other drivers’ accounts. This security lapse resulted in at least 14,000 trips - involving 43 drivers – where someone other than the booked driver picked up passengers, TfL said.

Uber stripped of its licence to operate in London over safety concerns (https://www.thejournal.ie/london-tfl-uber-4905252-Nov2019/)

Quote
“Safety is our absolute top priority. While we recognise Uber has made improvements, it is unacceptable that Uber has allowed passengers to get into minicabs with drivers who are potentially unlicensed and uninsured.  “It is clearly concerning that these issues arose, but it is also concerning that we cannot be confident that similar issues won’t happen again in future.”  TfL found that at least 14,000 trips were made with drivers who were different to the ones shown on the app.  This was due to a system change enabling unauthorised drivers to upload their photographs to legitimate Uber driver accounts, the transport body said.  All of these journeys were uninsured and some took place with unlicensed drivers, including one who had previously had their licence revoked, TfL added.

Uber loses its London license as regulator cites a ‘pattern of failures’ (https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/25/20981492/uber-london-ban-license-renewal-transport-for-london-tfl-response)

Quote
One particular issue that was identified was a change in Uber’s system that “allowed unauthorised drivers to upload their photos to other Uber driver accounts.”  This enabled other Uber drivers to pick up passengers as if they were booked with the original driver, and TfL says this occurred during at least 14,000 trips. “This means all the journeys were uninsured and some passenger journeys took place with unlicensed drivers, one of which had previously had their licence revoked by TfL,” says a TfL spokesperson. A similar issue allowed suspended drivers to create an Uber account and take passengers on trips.

Another one of the reasons why they lost their London licence in the first place was that many drivers did not have enough English to function at primary school level (Yes, the UK has a test for this).  So imagine if you have 3 or 4 guys from a former colony living in a bedsit looking for work.  One of them bribes and gets a licence (Yes, this happened as well!).  While he's legit, he has to sleep sometime, so his flatmates fake a photo and go out working their Uber PH cab...
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: Rat Catcher on February 19, 2021, 07:29:14 pm
Uber was never going to cease trading in London. All it's drivers have PH licences issued by TfL... TfL is legally responsible for overseeing the vetting process.

Our employment law differs substantially from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. They have a middle category between employed and self-employed to drag piece workers into their PAYE system.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: watty on February 19, 2021, 08:07:22 pm
<snip>All it's drivers have PH licences issued by TfL...<snip>
...shame about the other 14,000 trips

Our employment law differs substantially from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. They have a middle category between employed and self-employed to drag piece workers into their PAYE system.
It would be interesting to see how similar cases get on within our system.

My 'favourite' one involved a soldier who was morbidly obese but he delivered the post around the army post he was assigned to.  The army doctor wanted to sack him because he was basically dead man walking.  The soldier argued he shouldn't be sacked because he wasn't really a soldier, he was more a postman and he could do that just fine.  The WRC (?) accepted his case but unfortunately he dropped dead of a heart attack before his case was finalised.

This country is a soft touch compared to the UK.  Sure you get €250-300/week here if you can't be bothered to work.  €350 when Leo was in charge.  Bring back Leo, he was great so he was  O:-)
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: Shallowhal on February 19, 2021, 08:12:50 pm
€350 when Leo was in charge. 

Some of us(me) still gettin it!!
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: Belker on February 20, 2021, 08:12:47 am
...... Uber never used private motorists in the UK.Private hire drivers are something different.
I dont think your correct in saying that MFH.
I dont follow much international Taxi news but it was always my belief that Aus/USA/UK had a uber private/pop hire gig on the go.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: Belker on February 20, 2021, 08:21:28 am
There could easily be drivers on Freenow with faked IDs that haven't been found.....
How would they do that MFH ?
How exactly would they bypass the FN system of having their driver and vehicle licence being faked ?
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: mercenary for hire on February 20, 2021, 09:45:54 am
Ken there was never private drivers on the UK Uber app.There may well have been some driver fraud but that isn't the the same thing. I've been saying it for year but some just wanna believe what they wanna believe.

I personally think the folks at Freenow are as competent as they might pretend to be.Think of the amount of foreign lads here who might have dodgy driver licences that they used to get Irish licences.Then there was cheating found at one of the taxi test centers a few years ago.Plenty of ways to circumvent the system.Where there is a will there's a way.If it wasn't for the NTA driver app there would be a lot more.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: mercenary for hire on February 20, 2021, 10:00:25 am
Just to be even clearer private hire in the UK is our equivalent of the hack/limo.Uber may have called it something else.Only in certain parts of the US and in limited other countries was there ever a private motorist picking up taxi fares.

I think at one stage the UK Uber app was allowing drivers to upload new pictures without verification which led to blokes loaning their Hackney Prius to their mate down the Mosque which made him look legit on the app.

Anyway we should probably be nice to Uber as they've got deep pockets and they're trying to buy Freenow.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: silverbullet on February 20, 2021, 02:17:55 pm
€350 when Leo was in charge. 

Some of us(me) still gettin it!!
You must have been putting in long hours pre PUP.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: Shallowhal on February 20, 2021, 02:48:47 pm
€350 when Leo was in charge. 

Some of us(me) still gettin it!!
You must have been putting in long hours pre PUP.

Nah....i got a real job in Sept Silver!! lol
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: silverbullet on February 20, 2021, 02:54:20 pm
€350 when Leo was in charge. 

Some of us(me) still gettin it!!
You must have been putting in long hours pre PUP.

Nah....i got a real job in Sept Silver!! lol
I'm stuck on €250.
Title: Re: Uber drivers are workers
Post by: Rat Catcher on February 20, 2021, 06:58:34 pm
43 drivers out of 45,000... hardly a big deal. PH firms in London are very poorly regulated, there must be thousands of unlicenced drivers working for low tech firms - particularly the Greek, Turkish and Pakistani firms. Did any of the 43 - only some of whom were unlicensed - rape and/or murder their clients?

Whatever way you look at it, Uber is far safer than taking your chances on the streets - particularly in Dublin where drivers' self-appointed representatives frequently complained about convicted criminals and unvetted immigrants holding taxi driving licences and have gone to court to defend convicted criminals' rights to be licensed. At least with an app the journey is monitored.