There Is No ‘One Size Fits All Approach’ Says Uber South Africa, As UK Drivers Get Benefits

IN the United Kingdom, Uber is now reclassifying drivers as “workers” after losing a long and bitter legal fight in February. The people who drove Uber customers around in cars referred to as Ubers were independent contractors, the company had insisted. Then, when it lost a case before the UK’s highest appeal court, it said the impact was limited to a small number of drivers.

But on Tuesday it confirmed it would change the status of some 70,000 UK drivers, which means they will have the right to earn a minimum wage, get paid holiday time, and enjoy some other protections extended to employees, which is a different legal category to that of “worker” in the UK.

That does not mean anything will change in South Africa, though.

Asked what the new dispensation in the UK meant in SA, Uber said it had “already made significant changes” in South Africa, pointing