After disappointing party manifestos, WIE launches 10-point worker manifesto for the next government to tackle brutal algorithmic exploitation including robo-firings, dynamically set pay and intrusive surveillance.
Call on Labour to reinstate promise of a single status of employment without delay for all but the genuinely self-employed.
Local authorities must have powers to cap vehicle numbers and to attain all journey information for publication in open datastores
Labour, in common with other European countries, should commit in government to effective deterrence including criminal prosecution of rogue gig employers and custodial sentences for those convicted.
More gig worker precarity will not boost public finances
Worker Info Exchange (WIE) today publishes a ten-point action plan for the next government, after years of dither and delay, to finally eradicate the worst abuses of gig economy platform employers. This comes in the wake of a series of deeply disappointing party manifestos which fail to propose necessary action to provide fairness and protection for 4.4 million workers in the gig economy.
With Labour on course to form the next government, tech sector lobbyists have been working overtime to influence the next government even before it has even been elected. A new Labour government must not give in to the fallacy that banishing bogus self-employment and lifting the lowest paid out of in work poverty would somehow threaten the economic growth that Labour is counting on to generate extra taxes to shore up failing public services. The very opposite is the case with platform employers paying the correct national insurance and VAT just as they are now forced to do in the EU.
Single status of employment and regulation of AI at work
WIE’s plan calls for a single status of employment for all but the genuinely self-employed – a long-standing promise that Labour has abandoned in its manifesto. WIE also demands regulation to deliver algorithmic transparency at work and to prohibit the use of AI to unnecessarily surveill workers, dynamically decide pay rates and to determine performance related sanctions for staff, including dismissals.
Expanded trade union rights for gig workers
Labor must expand trade union rights so that gig workers are properly consulted on the use of technology affecting pay, access to work and performance management. Given the unique profile of gig workers and the lack of a single physical workplace, unions must have private access to the employer platform technology infrastructure for confidential communication with workers. Gig workers must also have the right to ballot for strike action by electronic means, a right currently denied to all workers.
Open data access for workers and their communities and power to cap vehicle numbers
Cities such as New York, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angelese already regularly access and publish gig platform journey data on an open data basis so that communities, unions and policy makers can monitor working conditions, congestion and air quality. UK local authorities must be granted similar powers. They must also be granted devolved powers to set capacity limits on the number of vehicles publicly licensed for passenger and delivery services.
Effective deterrence with criminal sanctions for rogue gig employers
Although the Labour manifesto promises a single enforcement body, it is equally important that meaningful penalties are established particularly for employers who engage workers in bogus self-employment arrangements. Currently, employers face unlimited fines and up to 5 years in prison for the employment of undocumented workers – arguably, a far less serious offence. As a starting point, the same penalties should apply for employers who misclassify workers in bogus self-employment. In France, Deliveroo executives have already received prison sentences for using bogus self-employment there.
The App Drivers and Couriers Union (ADCU) are endorsing this Worker Info Exchange campaign.
James Farrar, Director of Worker Info Exchange said:
“An incoming Labour government should not squander its mandate with weak and delayed proposals for much needed strengthening of worker rights. As platform growth has matured in recent times, the algorithmic exploitation of workers in so called gig economy has become even more intrusive and brutally exploitative than ever before. This means below minimum wage pay, unsafe working conditions and unnecessary additional congestion on our streets. There can be no more dither and delay, Labour must deliver on its longstanding promises to help gig workers. We are demanding that all candidates running for election commit themselves to delivering on our ten-point plan.”
Zamir Dreni, Chair of the App Drivers & Couriers Union (ADCU) London said:
ADCU members have been badly let down by government for the last ten years and we can’t stand by for a new government to carry on with the same ‘see-nothing, do-nothing’ approach. For years we have mobilised to take strike action, to publicly protest and to take legal action. It is now time for the new government to come forward and not back down. What is the point of a government that is unwilling to take the necessary steps to lift so many people in the gig economy out of in work poverty? We will be asking our members to support this campaign and we are determined to pressure the next government to act to protect gig workers.”
Background:
The 10-point manifesto can be found here: https://www.workerinfoexchange.org/manifesto
Worker Info Exchange is a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping workers uncover and gain insight into and challenge unfair algorithmic exploitation at work. It has led successful litigation on data protection rights against Uber and Ola Cabs.
Historic digital rights win for WIE and the ADCU over Uber and Ola at Amsterdam Court of Appeal (2023) - https://www.workerinfoexchange.org/post/historic-digital-rights-win-for-wie-and-the-adcu-over-uber-and-ola-at-amsterdam-court-of-appeal
France hands suspended sentences prison sentences to two Deliveroo managers https://www.independent.ie/business/technology/france-hands-suspended-prison-sentences-to-two-deliveroo-managers/41571573.html
Labour manifesto dangerously ambivalent on gig worker rights https://www.workerinfoexchange.org/post/labour-manifesto-dangerously-ambivalent-on-gig-worker-rights-ahead-of-british-elections