Uber drivers speak out about treatment

Ubers drivers from London have met leaders of European transport unions as the global campaign against the ride-hailing company grows.

Uber drivers across the world have been on strike to demand that the company respects collective bargaining and union rights, pays a living wage for all drivers regardless of their employment status and ensures decent, safe working conditions for all drivers.

Dennis Bartholomew, who drove for Uber for four years, said: "How Uber treats its drivers is horrific, considering we're in the 21st century, it’s like Victorian working practices.

“Uber says the drivers, such as myself, are self-employed. That is a fiction designed to make Uber bosses extremely rich, and keep the drivers extremely poor. Unions are successfully forcing Uber to classify its drivers as workers, and it’s through unions that this company can be fixed.”

ITF general secretary Stephen Cotton told the drivers: “This Uber model for the future of work is masquerading as something new and good. But it’s not. It’s about exploitation and bad working conditions.

“Uber drivers should be properly rewarded for their work, they should have collective bargaining and respect. We will open a dialogue with Uber and take this message directly to the company.”