Uber barred from sacking 10 staff who refused to take redundancy

DutchNews, November 23, 2020 

Online taxi agency Uber has been refused permission to sack workers at its international headquarters in Amsterdam, the NRC has reported. 

State jobs agency UWV, which has to assess all formal applications for redundancy, has ruled that there were no valid grounds for dismissal because the company could not demonstrate that the downturn in the workload was structural. 

The UWV also referred to comments made by Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi, who told a staff meeting on September 1 that the job cuts, first announced in May, were more severe than strictly necessary. 

The decision is being seen as a vindication for some 10 Uber workers who refused to leave when the company pressured almost 200 staff in Amsterdam into leaving before the redundancies had been approved by the UVW. 

Uber announced in May that it would sack 25% of its 27,000 global workforce as the coronavirus pandemic has led to an 80% drop in its revenue. Some 1,000 people work for Uber in Amsterdam, mainly in app development, design, marketing and sales. 

The company applied to the UWV for approval for the redundancies, as required by Dutch redundancy law, but before the agency could rule, nearly all the workers who were being let go had already signed the relevant paperwork and been paid off, the NRC said earlier this month. 

Systems 

‘The workers who were affected were shut out of all the company’s systems the day after they were told they had to leave,’ the paper said. ‘They were also given a daily reminder about signing the agreement and told that their job would cease to exist.’ 

Many were expats from outside the EU with little knowledge of Dutch labour law, the paper said. 

Uber has not yet commented on the UWV’s findings. However, the FNV union’s spokesman on taxi platforms, Amrit Sewgobind, told the NRC he was very pleased with the UWV’s decision.

‘This shows a powerful company like Uber has to comply with Dutch redundancy law if it wants to sack staff,’ he said.

After taxis, Uber to launch app-based freight service in the Netherlands

DutchNews, March 21, 2019

Taxi company Uber is bringing its trucking app Uber Freight to the Netherlands – the first foray into Europe for the two-year-old service. 

The launch will be made in the coming weeks when ‘local carriers and drivers will be able to book and move their first loads with Uber Freight’, the company said. 

Uber says it plans to expand the service from the Netherlands to other parts of Europe in the near future. Uber’s European headquarters are in Amsterdam. 

Uber Freight, launched in the US two years ago, is based on an app which connects trucking companies of any size with suppliers looking to deliver goods. 

Uber Freight has run into difficulty in the US because of a shortage of drivers and has increased incentives to get more takers. The unit was spun of into a separate unit within the group last August.

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Five years on, Uber settles Dutch UberPop case for €2.3m

Five years on, Uber settles Dutch UberPop case for €2.3m

DutchNews, March 8, 2019

Taxi agency Uber has reached a €2.025m out of court settlement with the Dutch public prosecution office for operating its illegal UberPop service in the Netherlands in 2014 and 2015. 

The UberPop option allows private individuals to operate as taxis, but this is illegal under Dutch law. 

The company has also agreed to hand over the €309,409 it earned from UberPop and the person responsible for the service in the Netherlands has accepted a 90 hour community service sentence, the public prosecution department said. 

‘A taxi licence is intended to ensure the safety of the customer,’ the department said in a statement. ‘A licence also imposes requirements on the vehicles, such as an on-board computer in the car, that makes it possible to check drivers’ driving and rest times.’ 

In addition, the department said, providing taxi services without a licence creates unfair competition. 

Uber launched UberPop in the Netherlands in July 2014 but finally suspended the service in November 2015 after several court cases and fines. The ban was finally upheld by the company court in 2017. 

Uber now only operates in the Netherlands with licenced drivers. ‘Today is an important day for us,’ the company said in an emailed statement. ‘This settlement allows us to formally close this chapter, shows we have learned from our mistakes and have changed as an organisation.’ 

Deaths 

Uber has also recently been under fire in Amsterdam after four fatal road accidents in six weeks involving Uber drivers. 

The company later announced that people under 21 would be banned from working for it, and that all of its drivers would have a minimum of one year’s driving experience. 

In addition, young Uber drivers now have to follow an obligatory driving course with road safety body VVN before they can start.