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ACDU Uber drivers set to strike over demands to be paid for waiting time Mark Bursa A number of London Uber drivers staged a 24-hour strike and protest in London after a trade union claimed they were losing 40% of their earnings because Uber did not include waiting time as drivers’ working hours. In a statement, the App Drivers and Couriers Union said: “Uber has failed to comply with the Supreme Court and lower court rulings to pay drivers at least the minimum wage after costs for all working time from log on to log off.” The statement continued: “Instead, Uber has chosen to observe worker status for the working time periods only from dispatch to drop off but excludes waiting time which leaves drivers short-changed for about 40% of their true working time. In addition, last year Uber arbitrarily set the HMRC reimbursement rate of 45p for the purposes of calculating driver costs in determining minimum wage payments. However, this rate is not appropriate for commercial vehicles and was anyway set in 2011 and certainly does not reflect 36% fuel inflation since last year.” The union is demanding full compliance with the courts, fares to be increased to £2.50 per mile
and 20p per minute and that Uber commission be capped at 15%. In response, an Uber spokesperson said: “The ADCU represents a tiny proportion of active drivers on Uber. For over a year now, GMB Union has served as the voice of drivers in the UK following our historic recognition agreement which helped secure new worker protections including holiday pay and access to a pension plan.” The spokesperson added: “With
demand up following the pandemic, Uber drivers are earning more than ever — in the first quarter of 2022, they earned on average £29.72 an hour, including holiday pay, when actively engaged on the app.” The strike comes after damning revelations about Uber’s practices between 2013 and 2017, with 83,000 internal emails leaked to a national newspaper by a former Uber lobbyist. The papers show a concerted campaign by the Cameron
government to urge then-London mayor Boris Johnson not to tighten up regulations on Uber. In response to the “Uber Files”, Uber said the company had fundamentally changed since 2017, after Dara Khosrowshahi replaced Travis Kalanick as CEO. But the ADCU said this was “a lie”, adding “Uber certainly has become more slick and less brash in its PR, but the brutal exploitation of workers has only intensified.”
DG Cars takes 2022 takeover tally to seven with Alert Taxis acquisition Mark Bursa Nottingham-based DG Cars is continuing its rapid expansion drive to become a major player in the East Midlands with another acquisition, its seventh since the start of 2022. DG Cars has added Alert Taxis, founded in 1994 and based in the Nottingham suburb of Arnold, for an undisclosed figure. The takeover, which includes Alert’s base on Colwick Industrial Estate, will add around 30 drivers to their DG fleet. It is believed Alert Taxis’ management will remain with the company. DG Cars said in a statement: “This will be our seventh acquisition of 2022 and makes us the fastest growing private hire company in the UK.” Last month, DG added Cambridge-based CamCab into its growing business. CamCab is a major
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player in Cambridge, with 110 drivers on its books. CamCab founder Rowhi Nemer has remained with the business. And earlier in the year, DG made the major purchase of airport taxi specialist Arrow Cars, giving DG bases at Leeds-Bradford,
East Midlands and Bristol airports. Both DG and CamCab were Gold award winners in the 2021 Professional Driver QSi Awards, held last November. The takeover activity has bolstered DG Cars’ total UK fleet to more than 1,500 cars, and this is likely to increase. “We have also started a driver academy to recruit drivers into the industry who don’t have a licence,” said a DG Cars spokesman. After its purchase of Arrow Cars, DG issued a statement, saying it remained acquisitive. In a statement, DG said: “These acquisitions demonstrate that DG Cars is fast becoming a major provider of transport services within the UK. DG Cars is actively expanding within the UK, and taxi companies that want to be part of our growth are welcome to get in touch via socialfeedback@ dgcars.co.uk”
JULY 2022
