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Uber Contract 'Gibberish', Says MP Investigating Gig Economy (theguardian.com)
A committee of MPs has lambasted Uber's contracts with drivers as "gibberish" and "almost unintelligible" as the company attempts to ensure its drivers remain self-employed. From a report: Frank Field, chair of the work and pensions select committee that is carrying out an investigation into the so-called gig economy, said: "Quite frankly the Uber contract is gibberish. They are well aware that many, if not most, of their drivers speak English as a second language -- they recently lost a court case trying to escape Transport for London's new English testing rules for private hire drivers -- yet their contract is almost unintelligible." [...] Publishing full details of Uber's contract terms, along with those for the takeaway courier firm Deliveroo and Amazon, Field said all three used some kind of "egregious clause" which attempted to prevent people challenging their "self-employed" designation, although neither Uber's nor Amazon's contract went as far as Deliveroo's, in the committee's view.
Law overrides contracts, less the law specifically states it can be contracted out of.
Perhaps there should be penalties for putting in clauses that contradict law. The companies put them in to scare people in to not exercising their legal rights, knowing they're not enforceable.
I wonder if it would be covered under existing "obtaining by deception" or "loss by deception" laws...
Today's Uber stories brought to you from Uber's "no such thing as bad press" advertising department?
The jig is up on the "gig" economy. I can't wait for it to completely collapse. I hope the short-term rental economy goes next.
WTF is it any concern of the government, what sort of contract free citizens of able body and sound mind enter into with each other?
Ah, I get it. After willingly entering into the contract, some drivers are tempted to demand more, and the politicians — always greedy for more taxe... , err, wealth to spread around — are happy to "fight" for them...
Pay no attention to the green men from taxi companies either...
What's hilarious is that Uber is hiring these Left wing celebrities to wage its PR war — Obama's hacks and now Adriana Huffington... Just imagine, what these people would have been saying on the matter, if they weren't bought and paid for by Uber already...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
If the conservatives had their way, then ALL companies would be like that.
You know, small governement, little to no legislation, the free market will fix itself and bla bla bla.
Too bad neocons, libertarianism has already been tried. It was called feudalism, corporatism and fascism. And every time it was a disaster.
Warlords relied on violence — living (and dying) by the proverbial sword.
No, it is not, actually. What is illegal is to hold anyone as slave (except as punishment for a crime) — contract or not. But Uber is not doing anything of the kind, the contracts are "at will", breakable by either side. No, what these drivers now want — with encouragement of anti-Uber forces (who choose to ignore Lyft doing the same things), is to go back — and be treated as employees to be entitled to various benefits. Retroactively.
No, it is not. There is nothing wrong with "exploitation" per se — indeed, every employee is being "exploited".
I knew, that Statists like yourself — hold these lies to be self-evident, yes. And called them out on it...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
No, it is not, actually.What is illegal is to hold anyone as slave
18 USC 1590-92 are more extensive than you realize. And 1594 applies to attempts as well.
(except as punishment for a crime)
You misplaced the comma, didn't you?
Look up "Pinkerton" to remind yourself why it's still a relevant comparison and what governments are protecting us from in the workplace. “You could not run a coal company without machine guns" - Richard Mellon, 1925, is a quote that is also relevant.
I do indeed prefer a State to a Kingdom or Oligarchy.
Machine guns are still required — only it is the government's police, not "Pinkerton", that use them. And it is far from obvious, this is an improvement — for any abuse by the Pinkerton employees, a BLM agitator could list 5 abuses by cops (before realizing, you and him are on the same Socialist side of the greater debate).
Either way, be it the warlords of the dark ages or armed enforcers of the modernity, the distinct attribute is violence. And Uber manifestly does not use it — nor is it even alleged to use it.
?? This is not even wrong...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
is why they even bother? I don't have a lot of faith that any of this is a serious attempt to reign Uber in. They're blatantly flaunting laws about employment. If anyone really cared they'd have shut down Uber a long time ago.
My only question is: I've watched about a dozen of these "Gig Economy" companies get shut down because they were obviously employers. Uber's doing the exact same thing. How are they surviving? Are the CEOs/Investors just that much better connected?
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That is not even a sentence, I'm not entirely sure what you are saying you whining little cheerleader for oligarchs. Why do you hate America so much? Do you really prefer what the Russians have done recently instead?
Ah yes, I forgot that democracy and the ideals of a Republic are "socialist" now. We should just follow "might is right" should we?
Of course, it is! It has a subject ("This") and a verb ("is").
You, dufus, attempted to contrast "State" (government) vs. "Kingdom" or "Oligarchy" — not realizing, Monarchy et. al are still governments. That's why I closed with the (perfectly complete) sentence: "This is not even wrong".
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
for any abuse by the Pinkerton employees, a BLM agitator could list 5 abuses by cops
Gosh, for every abuse by an entity barely over 150 years old, you're looking at five thousand years of history across the world, and expecting us to what, shudder at your lack of mathematical ability?
Mi, you are terrible at this, even more so than usual. Have you eaten recently? Do you need a Snickers?
If you don't understand a contract, find a way to understand it or don't sigh it. Sounds like they're just being lazy and greedy instead of doing things the proper way.
Well that's one thing that MPs are expert on: Giberish
No, it is not, actually. What is illegal is to hold anyone as slave (except as punishment for a crime) — contract or not. But Uber is not doing anything of the kind, the contracts are "at will", breakable by either side.
In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
Either way, be it the warlords of the dark ages or armed enforcers of the modernity, the distinct attribute is violence. And Uber manifestly does not use it — nor is it even alleged to use it.
You think the only type of violence is physical? Uber recently increased their percentage of each ride while dropping the price. I'm not saying that's violence necessarily. But it's kind of a crappy thing to do, and the drivers have no say about it.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
From my short time with Uber I realized their ethics are at zero and they pride themselves at skirting regulations and laws. It's almost an obsession with them to try and out play outside the rules. Case in point is current litigation Waymo has against their former engineer and Uber. Can't wait until Uber totally self destructs which is almost a given.