The App Drivers and Couriers Union (ADCU) called on Uber users to avoid using the service for a day on Wednesday and instead join a demonstration at the company’s London headquarters. ADCU is demanding increased pay and conditions for its drivers and measures to address issues raised in Uber’s records. A trove of more than 124,000 documents, leaked to the Guardian and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and international media partners, revealed last week how Uber broke laws, cheated police and secretly lobbied governments. Q&A
What are Uber records?
projection The Uber Files is a global investigation based on a trove of 124,000 documents leaked to the Guardian by Mark MacGann, Uber’s former chief lobbyist in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The data consists of emails, iMessages and WhatsApp exchanges between the top executives of the Silicon Valley giant, as well as memos, presentations, notebooks, briefing documents and invoices. The leaked records cover 40 countries and span from 2013 to 2017, the period when Uber was aggressively expanding around the world. They reveal how the company broke the law, deceived police and regulators, exploited violence against drivers and secretly lobbied governments around the world. To facilitate a global public interest investigation, the Guardian shared the data with 180 journalists in 29 countries through the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The investigation was managed and led by the Guardian with the ICIJ. In a statement, Uber said: “We have not and will not condone past behavior that is clearly inconsistent with our current values. Instead, we’re asking the public to judge us based on what we’ve done in the last five years and what we’ll do in the years to come.” Thanks for your response. Uber has said it “will not condone past behavior that is clearly inconsistent with our current values. Instead, we’re asking the public to judge us based on what we’ve done in the last five years and what we’ll do in the years to come.” The ADCU said Uber had not gone far enough, challenging the company’s response to a landmark ruling last year by the high court, which found drivers were not self-employed contractors but workers entitled to rights such as the minimum wage and holiday pay. The union said Uber was interpreting drivers’ work hours as running from when the cab is dispatched until a customer leaves. Instead, the period should include waiting times, which according to the ADCU accounted for up to 40% of the drivers’ working period. Fares should also rise to £2.50 a mile and 20p a minute, with Uber’s commission capped at 15%, the union said. Uber files have revealed how the San Francisco-based company gained access to top politicians around the world as it lobbied for regulatory changes to allow it to operate. Do you have information on this story? Email [email protected] The ADCU said Uber continued to exert a significant “unfair” lobbying weight in the UK, including in meetings with MPs. Finally, the union called for the firing of Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, head of food delivery service Uber Eats, whose involvement in the use of “kill switches” and controversial software called Greyball to fool law enforcement was revealed at Uber. archives. Gore-Cotty told the Guardian he was “young and inexperienced and too often instructed by superiors of questionable ethics”. Uber insisted it has changed for the better since Dara Khosrowshahi’s arrival as chief executive in 2017 prompted an overhaul of the company’s corporate culture. James Farrar, the ADCU general secretary, disputed the claim, saying drivers had “no choice but to strike and take to the streets”. An Uber spokesperson said: “The ADCU represents a small percentage of active drivers at Uber. For more than a year now, the GMB union has been serving as the voice of drivers in the UK following our historic recognition deal, which helped secure new protections for workers, including holiday pay and access to a pension scheme. “With demand increasing post-pandemic, Uber drivers are earning more than ever – in the first quarter of 2022 they earned an average of £29.72 an hour, including holiday pay, when they were actively involved with the app. “The combination of higher pay, new safeguards such as holiday pay and recognition of UK pensions and trade unions has seen more than 10,000 new drivers sign up to Uber in recent months.”
