Taxi Driver Online

Using Uber taxis is 'not morally acceptable', says Labour shadow business secretary

Rebecca Long-Bailey accused the taxi service of “exploiting” drivers

Using Uber is not morally acceptable, a senior Labour shadow cabinet figure has said as Prime Minister Theresa May makes a keynote address on workers’ rights.

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey accused the taxi service of “exploiting” drivers.

Ms Long-Bailey told the BBC: “I don’t personally use Uber because I don’t feel like it’s morally acceptable, but that’s not to say that they can’t reform their practices.

“I don’t like the way that they are exploiting their workers, and I think the recent case proved that in the courts, that suggested that the workers that were there were in fact workers, and they weren’t flexible workers, and they needed to be given the adequate amount of protection and rights that workers enjoy.

“I don’t want to see companies model their operation on the Uber model.

“Uber, for example, have been exploiting workers, and exploiting flexible arrangements that are in place. And it’s important to have flexibility in the workplace, but it has to be two-way flexibility. It has to be flexibility that’s enjoyed by the worker and the employer.”

The comments came as a Government-ordered review into the employment rights of workers in the gig economy, which calls for better jobs to be created, was attacked as “feeble”.

The review, headed by Matthew Taylor, a former adviser to Tony Blair, recommended a new category of worker called a “dependent contractor”, and said there should be “genuine two-way flexibility”, giving workers additional protections.

The report by Mr Taylor, head of the Royal Society of Arts, said low-paid workers should not be “stuck” at the living wage minimum, nor should they face insecurity.

Speaking at its launch in London, Ms May is expected to promise that the Government will act “to ensure that the interests of employees on traditional contracts, the self-employed and those people working in the ‘gig’ economy are all properly protected.”

But she will insist that Britain must avoid “overbearing regulation”, retain flexibility in the labour market and remain “a home to innovation, new ideas and new business models.”

Unions and employment lawyers criticised the report, which has taken nine months to produce, for doing little to help the growing number of workers in delivery and taxi firms such as Deliveroo and Uber.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “I worry that many gig economy employers will be breathing a sigh of relief this morning.

“From what we’ve seen, this review is not the game-changer needed to end insecurity and exploitation at work.

source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 35006.html

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Review of gig-economy employment rights dismissed as ‘feeble’

Staff at delivery firms such as Deliveroo will find little to take heart from report, say union lawyers


A REVIEW ordered by the government into the employment rights of workers in the gig economy, which calls for better jobs to be created, has been attacked as “feeble” and dismissed as having “spectacularly failed to deliver”.

The review, headed by Matthew Taylor, a former adviser to Tony Blair, recommended a new category of worker called a “dependent contractor”, and said there should be “genuine two-way flexibility”, giving workers additional protections.

The report by Taylor, the head of the Royal Society of Arts, said low-paid workers should not be “stuck” at the living wage minimum, or face insecurity.

But unions and employment lawyers criticised the report, which has taken nine months to produce, for doing little to help the growing number of workers in delivery and taxi firms such as Deliveroo and Uber.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “I worry that many gig economy employers will be breathing a sigh of relief this morning. From what we’ve seen, this review is not the game-changer needed to end insecurity and exploitation at work.

“We’d welcome any nuggets of good news, but it doesn’t look like the report will shift the balance of power in the modern workplace.”

Thompsons Solicitors’ chief Stephen Cavalier said that the report’s recommendations were “feeble and add another layer of unnecessary complexity”, adding: “The creation of a new ‘dependent contractor’ status for gig economy workers would further complicate existing categories of how workers are defined in law.

"What is needed is one category which affords all workers all employment rights from day one of their contracts starting.

"This new status is unclear and unnecessary.”

Taylor said the UK’s performance on the quantity of work was strong, adding that now was the time to create better jobs.

“The review calls on the Government to adopt the ambition that all work should be fair and decent with scope for fulfilment and development.

“Despite the impact of the National Living Wage and tax credits, there will always be people who are in work but finding it hard to make ends meet.

“Our social contract with those people should include dignity at work and the realistic scope to progress in the labour market.

“Bad work – insecure, exploitative, controlling – is bad for health and wellbeing, something that generates cost for vulnerable individuals, but also for wider society.

“Improving the quality of work should be an important part of our productivity strategy,” he said.

Taylor set out seven “principles for fair and decent work”, including a goal of “good work for all”, additional protections for workers suffering unfair, one-sided flexibility, stronger incentives for firms to treat workers fairly, and a more proactive approach to workplace health.

source: http://thenational.scot/news/15402067.R ... feeble___/

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Member of UK gig-economy review panel was an early Deliveroo investor

Greg Marsh, one of four key members of an influential government review into modern employment practices, was an early investor into one of the companies at the heart of the discussion.

Mr Marsh, an entrepreneur, participated in a 2014 funding round in which Deliveroo, the food takeaway app, raised £2.75m. He bought shares worth “less than £10,000″ in the company, he said, which he attempted to to sell in November after being appointed to the government commissioned review.

According to Mr Marsh, his stake in Deliveroo was fully disclosed to Matthew Taylor, the former Labour official leading the review. He added that he had sold his full stake by the end of January.

The link between Mr Marsh and Deliveroo will raise questions about the impartiality of the Taylor review, which is due to be published tomorrow and will make recommendations about the employment practices of “gig” employers such as Deliveroo.

The London-based company, which links diners with restaurants online, uses self-employed couriers to deliver food around the UK. The Taylor review is expected to give new protections linked to the minimum wage to such contract workers.

“I am an angel investor in a number of companies,” Mr Marsh said. “None of the others were perceived as conflicting with the work of the review. It was fully disclosed.”

source: https://www.ft.com/content/b9248756-8f5 ... 0?mhq5j=e3

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

see how it works yet?

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Mr Marsh, an entrepreneur, participated in a 2014 funding round in which Deliveroo, the food takeaway app, raised £2.75m. He bought shares worth “less than £10,000″ in the company, he said, which he attempted to to sell in November after being appointed to the government commissioned review.

no mention of succeeded

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

fair to say he knew the 'worker' conditions when he made the investment - I just wonder who on earth thought he was a good choice to sit and judge

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

those who benefit most from this business model

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

ahh, so we're excluded from that

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

No..

You must be blind.
No government appointed inquiry is independent as they have selected those who sit on the board of inquiry,a person who invests in those the inquiry is about cannot give a unbiased opinion,the person who led the inquiry is most probably a closet Tory as he was employed by Blair.
Where was the most important persons to be on the board of inquiry,MISSING,no mention of any worker being on it.
Totally biased and bent as a woman's hair clip,what they took 9 months to come up with,a normal person could have reported in 10 minutes.

In the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man is king.

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Shouldn't that be sit and advise?

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Grandad,

Sorry I mean advise, like the employment lawyer they took on - who predominantly worked for large companies

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

When you have a panel of folks looking at or reviewing an issue, you need to have viewpoints from all sides.

The fact that one person invested in a company that could be effected by the outcome of the review is not unreasonable in my view.

Are we saying everyone but the cab trade should be involved in any review of our way of working?

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IDFIMH

Personally I don't see much difference between Uber and any other private hire operator. None of them offer workers any rights, pensions, holiday schemes etc etc. It's all a load of bollox that has been brought about by the traditional providers of services because of the new up starts. I have little or no sympathy with any of them tbh.

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!