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"[An Uber] spokesperson said: “Almost all taxi and private hire drivers in the UK are self-employed"" Is that true? Most taxis I see in an area are from 2-3 la
by zelos 10y ago
"[An Uber] spokesperson said: “Almost all taxi and private hire drivers in the UK are self-employed""
Is that true? Most taxis I see in an area are from 2-3 large local companies: are they employing drivers on a similar basis to Uber?
It seems like a pretty simple thing for the Guardian to fact check.
- pessimizer 10y agoJournalists only fact check things the impressions given political statements now, on a 1-5 scale of truthiness.
- dspillett 10y agoA lot of taxi drivers are essentially self employed and working under franchise, or similar arrangements, IIRC. I don't know for sure (in other words: rampant speculation follows!) but I expect it is a way for the taxi firm to dodge various responsibilities regarding health & safety, insurance, tax, and so forth, by passing them on to the "self employed" driver.
- Declanomous 10y agoI don't know how it works in England, which could very well have substantially different labor laws, but in many major cities in the US the cabbies either rent the vehicle or rent the taxi medallion from the cab company. It's kind of like how the sometimes people who deliver newspapers technically buy those newspapers from the newspaper and then collect the delivery fee.
- notahacker 10y agoI suspect it's mostly about flexibility: the firm doesnt have to worry about balancing driver availability (either complying with labour laws or not having them available at peak times) because they get paid exclusively in fares so will be available every hour that's humanly possible. As I understand it my local firm's drivers pay a weekly fee for use of car and dispatch service, and take the fees, so aren't in a very different situation from Uber drivers.