Taxi Driver Online

Gatwick: Taxi drivers to strike at airport after being faced with ‘brutal’ 48 hour fire and rehire style tactics

Gatwick Airport taxi drivers are planning to strike later this week after 300 drivers were given 48 hours to move to a zero-hour contract or face being fired. It comes after Gatwick Cars informed their workforce they have to sign the new contracts by this Friday (July 1) or be excluded from receiving further work.

The “brutal” fire and rehire style tactics have been condemned by members of trade union Unite, who say the zero-hour contract will “dramatically” reduce drivers’ pay and “exploit” workers after it was revealed the contract will allow Gatwick Cars Ltd to profit from 40 per cent of the drivers’ fares.

The move has been met with outrage, prompting drivers to plan a protest near Gatwick Airport from 6am this Friday. Unite regional officer Andrew Stanley-Ward said that the planned strike action will “inevitably lead to disruption at the airport.”

He said: “The planned demonstration is just the beginning of the campaign to ensure a fair deal for our taxi driver members, this will inevitably lead to disruption at the airport. If Gatwick Cars won’t behave like a decent company then Gatwick Airport should make it do the right thing or strip it of the contract. Gatwick Airport tenders this contract and it has a moral duty to ensure that its taxi drivers are not exploited."

Many of the workers are currently part of an employment tribunal case which will determine their employment status. However, Gatwick Cars is insisting the company's percentage of the drivers' fares should increase from 23 per cent to 40 per cent in order to cover the drivers’ holiday pay, pension contributions, and its own commission.

Gatwick Cars will also be changing its policy to make sure drivers can only operate cars that are under five years old, instead of seven, which Unite claims will make it “far more expensive." The company operates the taxis at the airport on a contract tendered by Gatwick Airports Limited (GAL). According to Unite, the drivers have repeatedly asked GAL to intervene without success.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has called the company’s conduct “shameful” saying: ”This behaviour brings shame to the owners of Gatwick who must step in to prevent this exploitation taking hold at the airport. Unite will not allow this attack on our members to go unchallenged and will ensure that all possible measures are utilised to ensure justice for our taxi driver members.”

_________________
IDFIMH

So they are going to offer all those benefits, but the drivers are going to have to pay for them all.

_________________
IDFIMH

Bump.

Had forgotten about this one from a few weeks ago.

Thought the term 'zero-hours contract' seemed a bit strange here, and one that's not normally associated with the trade, and the use of it here is because of the involvement of Unite, who are more used to dealing with employers and employees, rather than self-employed drivers, or those with 'worker' status Uber under and one or two other platforms.

However, it does seem that a zero-hours contract not only applies to employees, but also to those with 'worker' status as well. So I suppose, to that extent, Uber drivers are working under zero-hours contracts.

But what seems to be happening at Gatwick is that the drivers are being offered 'worker' status contracts like Uber, instead of their current self-employment. This is obvously being done by the company to stave off the litigation regarding employment status

On the other hand, if you're genuinley regarded as a self-employed driver then the term 'zero-hours contract' doesn't apply, because of course a contract of genuine self-employment would never guarantee any level of work anyway.

Some extracts from HMG's guidance:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... -employers

Not really asking that much is it?

_________________
IDFIMH