A UK Office of the Tribunals court has ruled (pdf) that Uber drivers have the rights of full time employees in Britain, reports Ars Technica. UK Uber drivers (40,000 currently) will be entitled to earn national minimum wage, holiday and sick pay and other benefits, according to the report. The court ruling said that Uber’s users and drivers did not negotiate fares or other conditions and were operating “strictly on Uber’s terms.” Uber, which states globally that it is only a technology platform linking users and drivers, said that it would appeal the ruling because “tens of thousands of people” chose Uber since they wanted to be self-employed and their own bosses. Uber also added that the ruling only affected the 2 drivers who filed the case. The report cites Jo Bertram, Uber’s UK general manager, as saying, “The overwhelming majority of drivers who use the Uber app want to keep the freedom and flexibility of being able to drive when and where they want.” The case was filed by two drivers Y Aslam and J Farrar with support from GMB, a general trade union in the UK, whose over 630,000 members work across different industries, against Uber. GMB said that this ruling did not have any effect on driver flexibility, that it guaranteed drivers basic employment rights and that Uber’s decision to appeal the ruling was to protect its profits and not protect its drivers. The drivers said that Uber had 30,000 drivers in London and 10,000 more in Britain,…
