LONDON (AP) – Uber is giving its UK drivers the minimum wage, pensions and holiday pay, following a recent court ruling that they should be employed and entitled to such benefits.
The announcement of the great travel giant comes after he lost an appeal to the Supreme Court of Great Britain last month, after a legal battle for years. The court’s decision has wider implications for the country’s concert economy.
Uber said it would immediately extend the benefits to more than 70,000 drivers in the UK. Drivers will earn at least the minimum wage, which currently stands at £ 8.72 ($ 12.12), after accepting a travel application and expenses and will be able to continue earning More.
Drivers will also receive holiday pay equal to about 12% of their earnings, paid every two weeks. And they will be enrolled in a pension plan that they and the company will pay.
“This is an important day for UK drivers,” Uber Regional Director General for Northern and Eastern Europe Jamie Heywood told SEC. He mentioned that drivers will still be able to work on a flexible basis. “Uber is just one part of a larger private rental industry, so we hope that all other operators will join forces to improve the quality of work for these important workers who are an essential part of our daily lives.”
The drivers who filed the case welcomed the news, but said it was not enough.
Uber “reached the table with this offer a day late and a short dollar, literally,” said James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam of the App Drivers And Couriers Union in a statement. They said the changes stopped outside the Supreme Court’s decision that the payment should be calculated from the moment drivers connect to the application until disconnection. And they said the company cannot decide on its own expense base for calculating the minimum wage, which should be based on a collective agreement.
Farrar and Aslam took their case to an employment tribunal, which found that drivers are not independent contractors but should be appointed workers, which, according to British law, means that their working conditions are better. unusual than employees, but still come with some benefits. Uber lost two rounds of appeal before the Supreme Court decision.
Providing more benefits to its drivers is likely to increase costs for the San Francisco-based Uber, which was already struggling to make a profit and had previously faced regulatory issues in London, where authorities tried to revoke its license. However, he said he does not adjust his earnings forecasts for that year.
The move in the UK contrasts with the result of a November election in California, where voters took an initiative that exempted food delivery and food delivery services from classification from their drivers as employees instead of contractors.
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