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Uber sang the same song again this week.

Uber must hire its taxi drivers, the judge has ruled. A victory for trade union FNV. Marike Stellinga, economist and political reporter, has in her column in NRC attention for this statement. Uber announced soon after the verdict that it would appeal. The company does this in the interest of the drivers, if we are to believe Maurits Schönfeld, general manager Northern Europe.

Stellinga thinks otherwise. “You would say: verdict passed, case solved. But unfortunately." The government is currently not or hardly enforcing the law. The cabinet must quickly enforce the rules to prevent the wrongful hiring of self-employed workers from so-called platform companies. That was also the conclusion of the Social and Economic Council (SER). Marike writes in NRC that it is cringe-inducing, not to say a disgrace. Because smart tricks to have the lusts of staff, but not the burdens, are harmful in various ways. 

employer

Platform companies make extensive use of independent entrepreneurs. The court vigorously punctured Uber's defense: the company does not merely mediate between people looking for a taxi and drivers, Uber is an employer. The judge ruled in that judgment that the drivers are employees. Uber must therefore hire them and adhere to the taxi collective agreement. 

The company says that it is not possible at all because this collective labor agreement is impracticable for a platform company such as that of Uber. The trade union FNV demands that Uber complies with the taxi Collective Agreement and pays the employees back in accordance with this Collective Labor Agreement. According to the union, Uber has been working for years with a sham construction, in which it allows taxi drivers to work for itself as self-employed while in reality they are employees.

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FNV is fighting with Uber about whether taxi drivers are self-employed or employees of the platform service.
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