Vol. 81/No. 39      October 23, 2017

 

Labour Party mayor in London puts 1,000s of Uber drivers out of work

 
LONDON — The agency regulating underground, bus and taxi travel here, Transport for London, announced Sept. 22 that “ride-hailing app” Uber’s license to operate in the city would not be renewed at the end of September. Transport for London is chaired by Labour Party Mayor Sadiq Khan. The decision, which puts tens of thousands of Uber drivers’ jobs at risk and deepens divisions between them and the city’s “black-cab” drivers, was hailed as a victory for workers’ rights by union officials and Labour Party leaders.

Since 2012 Uber has used substantially lower rates to break into the central London market, traditionally monopolized by London’s 20,000 black cabs.

Facing a squeeze on their incomes, black-cab drivers have organized protests to oppose Uber’s encroachment. This has pitted drivers employed by Uber, who are more often immigrants, against black-cab drivers, a greater proportion of whom are native-born workers. Uber drivers, organized by the General Municipal and Boilermakers union and other smaller unions, have staged their own protests demanding Uber improve wages and conditions.

Ashraf Ahmed, a driver who left Uber last year, explained that drivers face high costs for financing, insurance, licenses, fuel, maintenance and vehicle checks. After weekly expenses, “you may earn £300 [$396] for 60 hours. That’s not acceptable,” he said.

Union officials in the GMB and the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union, which represent black-cab drivers, have appealed to government authorities to ban Uber rather than organizing drivers in a common fight. A GMB-initiated petition which gathered over 100,000 signatures, called on Transport for London “not to renew the license unless Uber guarantees safe working practices and basic employment rights.” Black-cab driver Paul Walsh complained to the New York Times that recently arrived immigrants become taxi drivers. “They come here and push down our living standards,” he said “You have to say, ‘Stop.’”

Transport for London said concern about Uber’s background checks was one reason for its decision. Both unions welcomed its announcement. Uber will continue to operate while it appeals the ruling.

Uber driver James Farrar, chairperson of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, told the Times, “This is a devastating blow for 30,000 Londoners who now face losing their job and being saddled with unmanageable vehicle-related debt.”

While saying he was “over the moon” that Uber was being taken on, driver Ashraf Ahmed criticized the grounds for the decision. “They keep stereotyping minicab drivers as criminals,” he said.

“Uber drivers face bad conditions. I see Uber, the company, as the enemy. We should work together as workers, but the employers pit us against each other,” Kazim Asutay, a black-cab driver in Manchester, told Communist League member Peter Clifford.

“I don’t agree with the decision,” Clifford responded. “Calling on authorities to regulate competition and putting thousands of workers onto the street is not a road to organizing all cabbies into the union to fight together.”
 
 
Related articles:
Supreme Court set to take on anti-union case vs. dues checkoff
Railworkers face frame-up trial in Lac-Mégantic disaster
 
 
 
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