From today Uber drivers in the UK will be paid holiday time, automatically enrolled into a pension plan, and guaranteed to earn at least the National Living Wage.
Drivers are an essential part of our everyday lives and we are proud to be making these changes to how they earn with Uber.
Email from Uber to their UK customers on 17th March, 2021, titled “a better way of working for drivers”
The bold as brass “spin” of Uber plummeted to new depths last month when, after fighting legal initiatives by their drivers for about five years all the way to the UK Supreme Court, Uber lost, so now have to treat their drivers as employees and so yes, pay them for holiday time, enrol them into a pension plan and more. Their email to their customers, though, was total spin. Despite being dragged to treat their drivers fairly, Uber then attempted to spin it as if they are such good corporate citizens.
This then leads me to one question: “have you cancelled your Uber account yet?” If you are not, how do you feel about that? Do you feel like you are acting with integrity?
Integrity is what you do when no one is watching; it’s doing the right thing all the time, even when it may work to your disadvantage.
Tony Dungy, legendary NFL coach
Integrity is doing the right thing even when it may work to your disadvantage. Oh, and in the post where I quoted Tony Dungy, I also noted: “integrity is also doing the right thing when everyone is watching”, as Major League Baseball did a few days ago by moving their All-Star game away from the state of Georgia in protest to their blithely racist new voting laws (see NY Times piece).
So, what feels of integrity to you?
If you feel continuing to use Uber is ok, then do it. If you are someone who believes in protecting the lowest earners in society, do you delete your account and choose more ethical alternatives?
I do wrestle with this too, as I can immediately list several companies I feel press their line workers too hard (eg Amazon drivers having to urinate into bottles), or are misusing our personal data for commercial gain as well as skewing what information and news we see (Facebook, clearly, but also are we all going to quit WhatsApp and move to Signal?).
For now, many of us are more and more focused on our carbon footprint, yet, as one example few are willing to give up their SUVs or other gas-guzzlers, or to take public transport when it less convenient than driving their car. I recommend taking a look at Pawprint.eco , where you can calculate your carbon footprint.