Uber and all other gig companies operating in Europe are under pressure to make their workers permanent staff, WSJ reports. The UK Supreme court has been calling ceaselessly and asking for a total review of independent contractors’ employment deals from Uber and others.

An Alternative To Employee Status

Uber, the parent company of UberEats, is hellbent on keeping its workers classified as independent contractors rather than employees. Uber, Amazon, Deliveroo, and other food-delivery businesses recently met with the unions for a deal that would avert the employee status review.

The meeting was held with a small right-wing union in Italy. The outcome affirmed that Uber and other companies’ plans to start paying couriers in Italy €10 per hour (equivalent to about $12) for every delivery completed. 

While the attending union accepts this, larger blocks say the deal leaves them worse off than if they were treated as employees. 

But gig economy brands opposes reclassifying their gig workers as employees on grounds that it would add to their costs, take away flexibility from workers, and result in job loss.

Future Gig Battlegrounds

Looking ahead, Uber and other brands say they are interested in carrying out similar arrangements elsewhere, not excluding Spain and France. And if this could go well, it will help maintain their contractor-dependent business models.

The next battleground will be the US, where the government hopes to finalize a new gig-economy law in the coming months. There will be a change in administration. And a change in administration means policy changes. The president-elect Joe Biden will have some reservations in stock for gig-workers because of the California vote on Props 22. 

Following the outcome of Props 22, President-elect Joe Biden has made known that he desires to introduce collective bargaining for contractors and offer new arrangements to gig workers.