Workers from Scotland’s gig economy have called on Glasgow City Council to do more to protect them from exploitation.
The call was timed to coincide with a key case at the Court of Appeal in London yesterday. Uber is challenging a tribunal ruling that its drivers are not self-employed, and they do in fact work for the taxi-app company.
The protest was held by the the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which has formed three branches in Scotland, to support people working for companies who insist they are independent contractors, and who are frequently paid only when work is available. Drivers for Uber, cycle delivery riders for Deliveroo and Uber Eats, electricians and council foster carers were among the gig economy workers who took part in a demonstration in Glasgow’s George Square yesterday demanding more protection for all those in “precarious” employment.
The union is calling on the city council to make it a prerequisite for firms that they grant rights to gig economy before they are given licences to operate. It also wants Glasgow City Counil to settle with former workers for its now defunct Treatment Foster Care service, who were also declared to be employees by a tribunal.
The IWGB has also called for calling for a fair rate of pay for delivery riders, claiming the precarious nature of the job means workers don’t know how much work they will be offered, how much they will be paid, and do not have guaranteed sick or holiday pay. Foster carers from several local authorities are demanding to be recognised as employees and accorded rights such as protection from unfir dismissal and protections for whistle-blowers.
Jane Wright, chair of the Foster Care Workers Union, said: “As foster carers wer can be dismissed at any time . “
She said a central register of foster carers would allow people to give homes to children from different local authority areas, but at present registrations are held by individual local authorities. “We are seen as self employed but we are not because we’re tied,” she said.
Sebastien Flais, coordinator for the IWGB, said the union was calling for an end to all precarious work.
A spokesman for Uber said its practices were not unusual and many taxi and private hire drivers had been self-employed for decades”, while many valued the flexibility of being their own boss.
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