Hundreds of ‘precarious workers’ march through London as Uber faces Court of Appeal

'We are all coming together as part of a larger movement of workers with a shared realisation neither the government nor the bosses are going to ride in on a white horse to solve the problem of precarity'

Hundreds of "precarious workers" marched through London as Uber faced the Court of Appeal in a landmark case over its drivers’ employment status and rights.

The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) organised the protest to offer “solidarity with Uber drivers and demand an end to all precarious work”.

The union said that over 500 people including Uber drivers, fast food workers, Deliveroo couriers and outsourced cleaners joined the march from Transport for London headquarters in Blackfriars to the Royal Courts of Justice, less than a mile away.

IWGB described the protest as the “biggest ever precarious workers march”.

“Today’s action is the articulation of the legitimate rage of the precarious workers and the exploited workers of the UK. Uber have already lost two court battles," the union's general secretary Jason Moyer-Lee told marchers after they reached their destination. "They’re fighting to not have to give minimum wage and paid holidays and pensions and other basic employment rights to the drivers who work for them.”

The protest coincided with the beginning of Uber’s Court of Appeal hearing contesting the Employment Tribunal’s October 2016 ruling that the company’s drivers should be treated as workers rather than self-employed.

Uber argues that its 70,000 drivers are self-employed meaning that they are not entitled to basic workers’ rights including holiday pay and the National Minimum Wage.

Last year, ride hailing app took the case to the Employment Appeals Tribunal and lost.

While the case works its way through the appeals process, Uber has not adjusted its contracts to bring them into line with the Employment Tribunal’s October 2016 ruling - a decision that has cost drivers an average £18,000 according to the GMB Union, which brought the case.

James Farrar, IWGB's united private hire drivers branch chair and one of two employees who took Uber to court in 2016, said: "It's two years since we beat Uber at the Employment Tribunal, yet minicab drivers all over the UK are still waiting for justice, while Uber exhausts endless appeals. As the government ignores this mounting crisis, it's been left to workers to fix this broken system and bring rogue bosses to account.

"At first, we worked hard to build solidarity amongst Uber drivers who as a workforce have been kept isolated and fragmented thanks to Uber's one-to-many technology. Now, we are all coming together as part of a larger movement of workers with a shared realisation neither the government nor the bosses are going to ride in on a white horse to solve the problem of precarity."

As Uber’s appeal hearing began, the protesters continued the march to the University of London where outsourced workers are currently on strike.

More than 100 workers at the University including cleaners, porters and security officers are demanding to be made direct employees.

Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley spoke to the protest outside University of London Senate House and later wrote on Twitter: "Fighting for cleaners, security guards, couriers, drivers, bikers & riders, receptionists, foster carers & support workers, hotel workers, university staff & the picturehouse workers, the outsourced, overlooked & underpaid who must get the rights they deserve #PrecariousDemo"

The march ended at The Doctors Laboratory, where NHS couriers are demanding a pay rise after two rounds of pay cuts.

An Uber spokesperson said: “Almost all taxi and private hire drivers have been self-employed for decades, long before our app existed. We believe the Employment Appeal Tribunal last year fundamentally misunderstood how we operate. For example, they relied on the assertion that drivers are required to take 80 per cent of trips sent to them when logged into the app, which has never been the case in the UK.

“Over the last two years we’ve made many changes to give drivers even more control over how they use the app, alongside more security through sickness, maternity and paternity protections. We’ll keep listening to drivers and introduce further improvements.”

The spokesperson also referenced an Oxford Martin School study which stated drivers earn the London living wage and said if drivers were classed as workers the ywould lose “freedom and flexibility”.

Uber’s Court of Appeal hearing continues over 30 and 31 October.