I’ve been away over the weekend so am late commenting on this.
Uber drivers are not self-employed and should be paid the “national living wage”, a UK employment court has ruled in a landmark case which could affect tens of thousands of workers in the gig economy.
Doubtless the drivers who took the case to court are happy. Certainly the unions have been braying about this as if it is a good thing. However, it will have consequences and one of those is that certain people will find themselves effectively priced out of the workplace.
I work part-time as a motorcycle instructor. The school I work for uses much the same system as Uber – it treats all of the instructors as self-employed. Now, in my case, I am very much so. I have several clients and the school is but one of them. However, there are other instructors who fit the same mould as the Uber drivers – one client and all but employed.
Now, you could argue as the unions have done, that the “employer” should foot the bill for paid leave, sickness and employers national insurance. However, a small business such as this, cannot. The only alternative is to cease trading. This gig economy is nothing new. Small outfits in niche markets have been trading this way for as long as I can recall. It is a mixed blessing. Those of us who work for them take the risks when it comes to leave, sickness and so on as well as footing all of our own national insurance. We accept this because it is in our interests to do so – it is work and we would rather have the work than a hollow victory in the courts. Forcing our client out of business serves no purpose whatsoever – there are only losers.
So, thanks guys. Well done. In your moment of triumph at sticking it to the man, you have set a legal precedent that adversely affects others. Others you clearly didn’t give a fuck about. You could have just walked away from a contract that wasn’t to your pleasing, but, no, you had to go and screw it up for the rest of us. Thank you very much.
How many times have interfering do-gooders – usually uninvited and unwanted – screwed things up for everyone? More times than I can remember.
Not seen much explanation of how this will work in practice. At present I thought Uber drivers could log on whenever they wanted and stay on as long as they wanted. But I suspect that there are peaks and troughs of demand during the day, say a brisk lunchtime trade and slack after until people leave work. Now, if I log on at 12 and earn £30 by 2.30 that’s £12/hr but if no more before 5 that’s only £6/hr. So will Uber log me off or demand I work until 8 to bring up the hourly rate?
And how are costs to be calculated? Drivers have different cars, pay different rates of finance and insurance and have the use of them outside of working for Uber? It has also been said that it is easier to claim expenses as self-employed rather than as using one’s car for work.
There are some situations where this ruling is appropriate – the typical one is salons ‘renting’ chairs to stylists and beauticians who in actuality only work at the one location which is exploitative and they should probably be protected better by already existing legislation. However my understanding of Uber is that people choose to work when they want, can work as much or as little as they choose and are free to work for other companies (or indeed have an unrelated day job) as they see fit. I play in a band. Am I now entitled to a minimum living wage, covering my traveling time to and from gigs, my fuel and my time on stage at an acceptable standard, and should the venues or my agent be responsible for the tax and national insurance that has to be paid? Or am I free to continue negotiating my own fees and sorting out my own tax affairs, like an adult making adult decisions?