Uber and union bosses to meet after landmark deal on workers' rights

The UK boss of Uber is to meet with the new leader of a trade union for the first time since a landmark court ruling on workers' rights.

Jamie Heywood and GMB's Gary Smith seek to end years of discord over the ride-hailing giant's business practices.

The bosses said "the exploitation" of all ride-hailing drivers must stop.

In a joint statement ahead of the meeting, Uber and GMB said an estimated 230,000 drivers are not receiving "their legal rights" from companies such as Bolt and Addison Lee.

However, Addison Lee boss Liam Griffin rejected the claims, saying drivers were "at the heart" of his business.

"We guarantee the drivers that work with us get the London Living Wage level of earnings, as opposed to only the National Minimum Wage paid by Uber," he said.

"Drivers working with Addison Lee also get access to a pension and holiday pay."

Bolt said drivers were "free to choose which platform they use and record numbers are continuing to earn through Bolt".

"They tell us that's because they can take home more money," the firm said.

"That's not exploitation, it's competition. We don't take business advice from competitors motivated by their own agenda."

Under the May deal between Uber and GMB, the union will be able to represent up to 70,000 Uber drivers across the UK in discussions over earnings, pensions, benefits and their health and wellbeing.

The agreement came after Uber lost the third and final stage of a five-year legal battle with drivers who claimed it had wrongly classified their employment status.

For years Uber resisted calls to recognise unions, which had criticised the firm for not granting drivers basic rights such as sick pay or a minimum wage.

It argued it was a third-party booking agent, and its drivers were self-employed, but the Supreme Court ruled its drivers were workers, a category that means they are entitled to minimum legal, holiday and pension rights.

Mr Smith, GMB's general secretary, said the deal with Uber was the "first step towards a fairer working life for millions of people".

"It showed that when companies and trade unions work together, standards can be raised across these industries," he said

He said the Supreme Court ruling had set a precedent for all ride-hailing apps and urged others to follow.

"GMB and Uber today take the next step in our commitment to ending the exploitation of hundreds of thousands of ride-hailing app drivers," Mr Smith said.

Jamie Heywood, Uber's regional general manager for northern and eastern Europe, said he hoped working with GMB would "show the rest of the industry what can be achieved".

"We may not seem like obvious allies, but together we made history by striking a recognition agreement to improve workers' protections and, crucially, give drivers a stronger say in how Uber operates," he added.

Employment experts and unions have heralded Uber's deal with GMB as a big step forward for workers' rights that would be felt across the gig economy.

However, the UK is the only country in which Uber has recognised a union, and its is still being challenged by drivers in other markets over similar issues.

Mr Griffin, chief executive of Addison Lee, said a decline in driver earnings and wellbeing across the industry was a "product of Uber's operating practices and predatory pricing model", which had led to a race to the bottom and threatened driver livelihoods.

Responding to the comments, Uber said its drivers were making "more than ever before driving with Uber, so the claim of a race to the bottom is totally untrue".