Re: English-speaking taxi number?
On 07/30/2018 09:48 AM, Andrej Shadura wrote:
>> You have more a problem with the fact that UBER uses proprietary software
>> than the fact that they are exploiting their workers through by declaring
>> them as "contractors" through the help of loopholes in the law? [1, 2]
>
> That is incorrect, since the drivers issue their own invoices to the
> passengers, they decide when and how much they want to drive, and they
> enjoy freedoms not usually available to employees, like working any
> number of hours they like or having as many rides as they want. I do
> agree Uber might provide them some benefits usually available to
> employees only, but that is a different issue.
> In case of Uber, Uber doesn’t control what and how needs to be done,
> it’s the driver who does, which makes them rightfully contractors, not
> employees.
It's not incorrect, it's the ruling of the highest European court:
> https://www.ft.com/content/7f280664-e565-11e7-97e2-916d4fbac0da
Quoting:
The final ruling from the Luxembourg-based judges, which cannot be appealed against, found that despite Uber’s reliance on technology, the company was “more
than an intermediation service” for people trying to hail a cab.
The ruling found Uber “must be classified as a ‘service in the field of transport’ within the meaning of EU law”, giving national capitals the ability to
regulate it as any other minicab or taxi business, excluding it from looser rules that govern the bloc’s digital economy.
And before you say, this doesn't counter your argument, yes it does. It's
pretty much the main point that was discussed in court here: Whether Uber
is just providing the service to bring customers and drivers together or
whether they are a taxi business subject to the usual regulation.
You know, both legislators and authorities aren't stupid. They know that
if something walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck,
it most likely is a duck.
Customers contract Uber which then tell drivers where to collect those
customers and bring them to their destination. The money is collected
by Uber and the drivers don't have any saying over the pricing.
If Uber drivers were 100% independent contractors - as you claim - they
would be able to set their prices and Uber wouldn't collect the money
themselves, the driver would.
Misclassification of employees as independent contractors is always
measured using multiple requirements. And it's enough that just some
of the requirements are met, e.g. in this case the inability to set
their own prices.
The trick that Uber is pulling here isn't new at all. Lots of companies
have tried to use the contractor construction in the past and they always
failed. So it's really pointless to keep up this argument, especially
after the court ruling.
Adrian
--
.''`. John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
: :' : Debian Developer - glaubitz@debian.org
`. `' Freie Universitaet Berlin - glaubitz@physik.fu-berlin.de
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