Uber Calls for Industry Standards on Gig-Economy Work in Europe

By Adam Clark

Uber Technologies Inc. said Tuesday that it supports industry-wide standards of gig-economy work in Europe, arguing for a clarified legal model but opposing requirements to employ drivers and couriers.

The company published a white paper calling on policymakers and other gig-economy apps to build frameworks for "flexible earning opportunities" but maintain the status of independent workers. It said such rules should be set by individual European nations.

"This could include introducing new laws such as the legislation recently enacted in California. Or based on a more European model of social dialogue, where platform workers, policymakers and social representatives work together to set earning principles," Uber said.

Uber said it could support measures such as helping workers pay into existing social-security plans or an industry-funded benefits fund and pointed to its own model of offering insurance in partnership with French insurance company AXA SA.

The call comes after a series of European legal judgments challenging the independent worker model. In the U.K., Uber is appealing to the Supreme Court to overturn an earlier decision that drivers using its app effectively work for the company, while Swiss courts have forced Uber Eats to stop using independent contractors in the Geneva area. Instead it has started using third-party employees--a first for the company.

Write to Adam Clark at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 16, 2021 09:09 ET (14:09 GMT)

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