French employment ruling 'end of legal road' for Uber says GMB

GMB, a union for private hire drivers in the UK, says a French court’s ruling that Uber drivers are employees should be the ‘end of the legal road’ for the tech company.

The GMB union has won a hat trick of legal cases against Uber in relation to workers’ rights. In October 2016, the Central London Employment Tribunal ruled in GMB's favour - determining that Uber drivers are not self-employed, but are workers entitled to workers’ rights including holiday pay, a guaranteed minimum wage and an entitlement to breaks.

Instead of accepting the judgement of the courts, Uber took their case to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in November 2017, which ruled against the ride-sharing company.

Then in December 2018 the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling again.

Susan Harris, GMB Legal Director, said: “GMB welcomes the decision from France's highest Court on the employment status of Uber drivers.

“GMB has, on behalf of its members, had similar success in the UK with our courts recognising that Uber drivers are workers and not self-employed as Uber claims.

“But still Uber persists in using the legal system to avoid its responsibilities to our members; Uber has appealed now to the Supreme Court and we are set to return to court in July 2020.

“GMB calls on Uber to recognise that the judgement in France is the end of the legal road, to abandon their legal challenge in the UK and sit down with GMB, the union for Uber drivers, to discuss the way forward.”