Offering the minimum wage for the whole time Uber drivers are logged on to the app would mean it would be forced to only offer ‘set shifts’ and a ‘drastic cut to the number of drivers’ states Uber’s Regional General Manager.
Jamie Heywood of UBER also stated that recent changes to workers’ rights were based on feedback from drivers on the Uber platform, who wished to maintain flexibility.
Last month, Uber brought it new workers’ rights for over 70,000 private hire taxi drivers. 1000s of drivers in the UK are now considered as workers, earning at the very least the National Living Wage whilst driving for Uber.
Private hire drivers working for Uber are now also receive paid holiday time and are able to be automatically enrolled into a pension plan, subject to eligibility.
The news comes after the landmark Supreme Court ruling last month which gave victory to Uber drivers in their ongoing battle for worker rights.
Uber says the package that they offered to their drivers is based on a consultation they conducted, which found drivers wanted the additional benefits, without losing flexibility.
The news of Uber’s workers’ benefits was warmly welcomed by the App Drivers & Couriers Union (ADCU), but they did raise further questions as to why drivers were only given benefits and pay for the acual time they had an accepted job.
As part of their joint statement after news of the Court ruling on 16th March, Yaseen Aslam and James Farrar of ADCU, stated: “The Supreme Court ruled that drivers should be recognised as workers with a right to a minimum wage and the accrual of holiday pay on time worked from log on to log off. Whereas Uber is only committing to these entitlements explicitly from the time of the trip being accepted to the time of drop off. What this actually means is that Uber drivers will still be short changed by 40% to 50%. Also, it isn’t acceptable for Uber to decide the blanket driver expense base in how minimum wage is calculated. This must be subject to a collective agreement.”
In an exclusive interview, we asked Uber’s Regional Manager for North and Eastern Europe: “Why have you only offered workers on the Uber platform benefits for the time they have are driving on a live job, as opposed to the time they are actually logged in and looking for work through Uber too?”
Mr. Heywood, stated: “If drivers were to be paid the minimum wage for all of the time they simply had the app open, this would require us to set shifts and introduce a drastic cut to the number of drivers working at any one time, who can earn with Uber, at a critical time when the UK needs a lot more earnings opportunities, not fewer.
“Taxi Drivers have been vocal in telling us this isn’t what they want and the changes brought in recently are the only way to make sure these new worker rights come with the needed flexibility. This is very much in line with the Supreme Court ruling, which assessed Uber’s business back in in 2016 and founded its decision on critical features which have recently been removed.”