The Case of The Uber Driver vs The System

Discussing “the identity crisis” of the Uber Driver. Who is the Uber Driver? A self-employed individual or an employee? Is the gig economy crumbling?

It seems to us that the Uber driver and the Deliveroo delivery guys are nowadays the epitome of the independent contractor who no longer knows who he is but feels he needs to speak out.

Why, in the middle of a pandemic, when everybody is working from home, where remote work is on everybody's lips, we get titles like these: "Is the gig economy empire crumbling?", "In a First, Uber Agrees to classify British Drivers as Workers."

The simple fact that we read these types of news leads us to believe that there is a growing problem in the worldwide working system. Things have been changing so much that we no longer understand what concepts such as workers, self-employed, independent contractor or freeployee mean.

The gig economy is a machine that strives to achieve maximum profitability and efficiency, no matter the costs. It's almost like that invisible villain from the Terminator series - Skynet, an artificial neural network-based conscious group mind with artificial superintelligence.

Fancy words, apocalyptical megalomania, you might say. We beg to differ. It is a necessary metaphor to describe what is happening in the current working world. It is not one company's fault; it is the system that seems to crumble under the maximum- profitability-flexibility- efficiency syntagm.

Even outside investors recognise the unsustainability of this system. Some of Deliveroo's investors do not want to back the platform's business until they review their current work model and treat workers fairly.

Why the Uber Driver Example is Important

The problem is pretty much the same we have talked about in a previous article concerning Uber. These big delivery or Taxi platforms do not want to consider their workers as employees and claim they are self-employed. All good here. The problem comes when the control they exert over their "self-employed" collaborators is similar to that of an employer.

This is how most delivery workers or Uber drivers end up tolling away for meagre gain, no holiday or sick pay, pension or contribution. There is an unfairness to this working model, and the system seems to be crumbling down. Workers, unions, investors, national courts, and governments seem to wake up.

In February, The UK Supreme court ruling decided Uber drivers are workers. In March, Uber's senior vice-president said:

"Our view is our current employment system is outdated, unfair, and somewhat inflexible, and some workers get benefits and protections and others don't. We feel that COVID has exposed some of those fundamental flaws and think this is a good opportunity for change."

However, what type of change are we going to see? Are we going to witness the third pillar in the "public working square"?

We need it. We require that middle ground between employee and the gig economy marketplace, where Freeployees are reigning supreme. Freeployee is a term we have been playing with lately, trying to conceptualise our company's core.

From the Uber driver to the freeployee is still a long road to go, but we believe it is possible. A freeployee is an independent contractor responsible for delivering results in an agile and flexible way. He collaborates with a company on a long-term basis, lending his skills and commitment to a fair amount of money and on clear contract grounds. He does not need to apologise for taking a vacation, the company does not control him in the same way an employer would be, yet he is protected by a responsible, fast, and agile system.

This is the system we're building, and you should ask us more about it.