Uber and out for fired drivers in labour court fight

A judge has told eight fired Uber drivers to navigate back to square one in their unfair dismissal case.

Uber South Africa appealed to the Labour Court in Cape Town after the Commission for Conciliation‚ Mediation and Arbitration ruled that the Cape Town drivers were its employees.

Judge Andre van Niekerk agreed with Uber SA that commissioner Winnie Everett got it wrong. But he did not rule whether the drivers were employed — either by Uber’s Netherlands-based international parent or the owners of the cars they drove — because he said he was not asked to do so.

Handing down judgment on Friday‚ Van Niekerk was critical of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union‚ which failed to distinguish between Uber SA and the parent‚ Uber BV.

“While it might appear to the drivers that this application ultimately turns on a technicality‚ it is a technicality which ... is of some significance and of which their representatives were fully aware‚” he said.

The drivers‚ led by Tshepo Morekure‚ were dismissed by being deactivated on the Uber app. Everett’s ruling that they were employees of Uber SA opened the door for an unfair dismissal claim at the CCMA — but it has now been slammed by Van Niekerk.

Uber SA argued that they were independent contractors to Uber BV‚ but the drivers argued in their affidavit that “Uber” was all they needed to say. “The affidavit is characterised by polemic rather than fact‚” said Van Niekerk.

The question of whether they worked for Uber BV or were independent contractors “is a matter that remains for another day”‚ he said.