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February 21, 2021
LONDON (AP) Uber drivers in Britain are entitled to benefits like paid holidays and minimum wage, the country’s top court ruled on Friday, in a decision that threatens the company’s business model and holds broad implications for the gig economy.
The ruling that the drivers should be classed as “workers” and not self-employed is a big defeat for the ride-hailing giant. And it could inspire similar legal action against other companies who rely on gig workers as well as influence courts in other countries grappling with the issue, experts said.
The seven Supreme Court judges who heard the case unanimously rejected Uber’s appeal against an employment tribunal ruling that two Uber drivers were “workers” under British law.
<strong>Editorial: </strong>Workers fighting to form the first union at an Amazon workplace in the US are pioneers in the battle to civilise big-tech capitalism
“We are not robots” was chosen as the slogan of a GMB-led campaign against dehumanising work practices at Amazon warehouses. But these days many of Amazon’s employees are, in effect, managed by them. Self-driving autonomous robots bring containers to workstations, dictating the rhythm at which items are stacked and sorted. Eliminating walking time for employees has helped Amazon to triple individual output. But the even more relentless pace has.