Taxi company Uber provides financial support to taxi drivers who oppose a recent ruling by the Dutch court. This is evident from research by NRC. In September, the Amsterdam judge ruled in a case brought by the trade union FNV that Uber drivers are not self-employed entrepreneurs, but employees. There are currently four thousand Dutch taxi drivers working for Uber as self-employed persons.
Last month, a group of Uber drivers founded the Foundation for Self-Employed Drivers, which represents the group of drivers who prefer to continue working as self-employed for Uber. They were encouraged to do so by Uber management. Among other things, Uber paid the notary fees for setting up the foundation and the deployment of communications officer Eelco van Ravenswaaij, an experienced drink and tobacco lobbyist, who set up a PR campaign. With the lobby, Uber is trying to ensure that the appeal ruling, which is due in the course of next year, is reversed.
Founded in 2009 in San Francisco, Uber has extensive experience in legal fights that are conducted worldwide. Professor of employment law Evert Verhulp of the University of Amsterdam is critical of Uber's action.
"The fact that Uber itself paid for the establishment of the driver's association is something to think about. That does not do the credibility of this 'trade union' any good."
The Amsterdam court previously decided that Uber must hire its drivers. This ruling came as a result of a legal action that the FNV trade union had previously instituted. Uber wanted the drivers to remain self-employed while FNV spoke of bogus self-employment. The FNV stated that Uber is a Taxi employer and demands that Uber applies the taxi CLA to its drivers and also pays them afterwards in accordance with this CLA.
Uber argued that it is (just) a technology platform that works with independent taxi drivers. FNV has gathered many pieces of evidence in preparation for the case, talked to hundreds of drivers and submitted their statements. The FNV trade union has been fighting for some time about the status of self-employed workers in the taxi sector. According to the union, employees in other sectors are also deployed as freelancers in order to save on labor costs.
Also read: FNV wins: Uber must hire drivers