Fresh blow to gig economy as GMB Union celebrate Court of Appeal Uber ruling

GMB Union celebrates ‘early Christmas present’ as Court upholds ruling that Uber drivers entitled to employment rights. GMB, the union for professional drivers, hailed a ‘hat trick’ of legal wins for Uber drivers after the Court of Appeal upheld upheld a ruling that they should be classified as workers.

In October 2016, the Central London Employment Tribunal ruled in GMB's favour - determining that Uber drivers are not self-employed, but ARE workers entitled to workers’ rights including holiday pay, a guaranteed minimum wage and an entitlement to breaks. Instead of accepting the judgement of the courts, Uber took their case to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) last year, which ruled against the ride-sharing company. The Court of Appeal judgement is Uber's third legal defeat on this issue in as many years. Tim Roache, GMB General Secretary, said: “We’re now at a hat trick of judgements against Uber, they keep appealing and keep losing. Uber should just accept the verdict and stop trying to find loopholes that deprive people of their hard won rights and hard earned pay. “This is the perfect early Christmas present for GMB's Uber members, but this case is about the wider ‘gig economy’ too. "Employers are on notice that they can’t just run rough shod over working people to put more on the bottom line for shareholders.” Nigel Mackay, partner in Leigh Day’s employment team, said: “We are very pleased that the Court of Appeal has again upheld the Employment Tribunal’s findings that Uber drivers are workers of Uber. “This is the third time that the drivers have been victorious in their fight for workers’ rights but Uber has yet to give their drivers what three legal decisions have ruled they are entitled to – holiday pay and to be paid at least the National Minimum Wage. “We hope that Uber now faces up to its responsibilities instead of spending time and money in the courts attempting to deny its drivers these rights.”