GMB organises and represents private hire drivers across the UK who deserve a level playing field, which means being paid a decent wage and making sure passengers are safe - it doesn't mean working excessive hours or allowing exploitation to continue unchecked.
In 2016 we took successful legal action when our Uber driver members told us of the long hours they were working to make up for being paid far below the legal minimum wage, once the costs of doing the job were taken into account. With no right to paid breaks and holiday pay these drivers are completely dependent on the hours in the car. Add the ability for Uber to fix the cut of the money drivers make from their labour and it’s clear that far from running their own businesses, they are being taken for a ride.
When the evidence had been heard, the conclusions of the employment tribunal, as it ruled in GMB’s favour could not have been clearer: “The notion that Uber in London is a mosaic of 30,000 small businesses linked by a common ‘platform’ is to our minds faintly ridiculous”. Its judgment surmised the firm's argument that drivers are "self-employed" as based on "fictions, twisted language and even brand new terminology".