GMB puts employers on notice after Uber victory

Great money? £5.03 an hour after costs and fees.

 From the GMB union

 Similar contracts masquerading as bogus self employment will all be reviewed says GMB

GMB, the union for professional drivers, has won their case against Uber as the London Employment Tribunal has determined that Uber has acted unlawfully by not providing drivers with basic workers’ rights. (see notes to editors for previous press releases)

GMB brought two test cases to the Central London Employment Tribunal on 20 July 2016 and it has decided that Uber drivers are entitled to receive holiday pay, a guaranteed minimum wage and an entitlement to breaks. The Tribunal decision will have major implications for over 30,000 drivers in London and across England and Wales and for workers in other occupations.

GMB found last year that a member working exclusively for Uber received just £5.03 per hour in August after costs and fees were taken into account, significantly below the national minimum wage of £7.20. Lawyers for the drivers also argued that Uber acts unlawfully by frequently deducting sums from drivers’ pay, often without informing the drivers in advance, including when customers make complaints.

Maria Ludkin, GMB Legal Director, said:

This is a monumental victory that will have a hugely positive impact on over 30,000 drivers in London and across England and Wales and for thousands more in other industries where bogus self-employment is rife.

Uber drivers and other directed workers do have legal rights at work. The question for them now is how those rights are enforced in practice. The clear answer is that the workforce must combine into the GMB union to force the company to recognise these rights and to negotiate fair terms and conditions for the drivers.

This loophole that has allowed unscrupulous employers to avoid employment rights, sick pay and minimum wage for their staff and costing the government millions in lost tax revenue will now be closed.

Uber drivers and thousands of others caught in the bogus self-employment trap will now enjoy the same rights as employees. This outcome will be good for passengers too. Properly rewarded drivers are the same side of the coin as drivers who are properly licensed and driving well maintained and insured vehicles.

GMB will be getting on with the business of campaigning and recruiting at Uber to ensure our members’ rights are respected.

GMB will give evidence to the new Taylor review on terms and conditions within the sectors of the economy offering precarious employment. We will make the case that average hours worked over the past 12 weeks should be deemed to be the contracted hours of work for those on zero hours as it already is for maximum hours of work under the Working Time Directive.

GMB puts employers on notice that we are reviewing similar contracts masquerading as bogus self employment, particularly prevalent in the so called ‘gig economy’. This is old fashioned exploitation under newfangled jargon, but the law will force you to pay GMB members what they are rightfully due.

 Nigel Mackay, Leigh Day employment lawyer, said:

We are delighted that the Employment Tribunal has found in favour of our clients.

This judgment acknowledges the central contribution that Uber’s drivers have made to Uber’s success by confirming that its drivers are not self-employed but that they work for Uber as part of the company’s business.

Uber drivers often work very long hours just to earn enough to cover their basic living costs. It is the work carried out by these drivers that has allowed Uber to become the multi-billion-dollar global corporation it is.

We are pleased that the employment tribunal has agreed with our arguments that drivers are entitled to the most basic workers’ rights, including to be paid the National Minimum Wage and to receive paid holiday, which were previously denied to them.

This is a ground-breaking decision. It will impact not just on the thousands of Uber drivers working in this country, but on all workers in the so-called gig economy whose employers wrongly classify them as self-employed and deny them the rights to which they are entitled.

Should we be subsidising PoundWorld's low pay?

Green Party member and disability rights campaigner Simone Aspis has sent me copies of these letters she has sent to the CEO of PoundWorld and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

To Chris Edwards, CEO PoundWorld:

I have just watched the C 4’s Undercover Boss, a feature of PoundWorld.    I understand that PoundWorld has made millions of pounds profits and can well afford to pay all their staff more than the minimum wage.  Please do not tell us that you cannot afford to pay your sales assistants more than the minimum wage.   I work for a charity and get paid more than your sales assistants.   I am sick and tired of subsiding national and multinational companies’ staff wages in form of Government’s benefits and in-work tax credits.   Anyone who works hard for 35 hours per week should be paid enough to live on without Government’s subsidies.   No one can live on the minimum wage whilst working and living in London.   Many of your staff would still need to claim housing benefit in order to live in rented shared accommodation.    It’s an absolute disgrace.  

You are in a position to pay all your sales assistants enough money so they can:

1)     Rent a self-contained flat in a relatively safe area
2)    To pay for all bills (fuel, food, television licence etc)
3)    Have some leisure
4)    Provide for their family

Please stop forcing me and other hard paid workers from subsiding big companies sales assistants wages through their taxes.   PoundWorld and you are more than financially capable of paying every member of staff a sufficient wage so they do not become a “burden on the state”.   What angers me the most is not subsiding the unemployed, but rather your company’s employees’ wages. 

To  Lord Freud, Minister for Welfare Reform

I am urged to ask the Government what its policy will be to ensure that employers pay all their full-time workers a sufficient wage so they are able to maintain themselves without relying on Government’s subsidies through in-work benefits after watching Undercover Boss.  Please see letter I wrote to Chris Edwards, Pound World’s CEO.  I am getting really sick to death of my taxes being used to subside big profitable company’s wage bills.  For example every time I enter into any chain store (Pizza Express, McDonalds, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Pound World), I am mindful that my taxes are being used to subside their wage bill.  This is because many of their staff’s wages do not cover the cost of living and renting a flat.   

All but one of my friend’s wages is being topped up with in work tax credits.   All my friends are paying rents for one bedroom flats.   

As a tax payer I much rather pay for someone looking for a job rather than subsiding a company that chooses to pay their staff poverty wages.  

When you respond to me, please refer to only what will the Government do to make sure employers pay a sufficient wage for their workers to live on.   I know about the welfare reform programme and the universal credit.   I think employers should be increasing their employees’ wages rather than Government increasing the amount of money that benefit claimants can keep if they accept low paid work.   Please do not tell me that many of the well-known employers you and I know, cannot pay employees a sufficient wage so they can provide for their family in a self-contained rented accommodation.   And please do not tell me none of these companies are not making a profit even during a recession because they are!