The U.K. Labour Party's shadow business secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, told the BBC on Tuesday that she has never used the ride sharing app Uber because it is immoral.
British courts have ruled that Uber cannot classify drivers as self-employed, and the government released a report calling for changes in labor practices in the gig economy. Many on the left consider gig economy labor practices—from delivery apps to ride sharing ones like Uber—to be exploitative, and Long-Bailey argued on BBC radio that Uber is compromised by such practices, BuzzFeed News reported.
"I personally do not use Uber because I don't feel that it is morally acceptable, but that's not to say that they can't reform their practices," Long-Bailey said.
"I don't like the way that they're exploiting their workers, and I think the recent case proved that in the courts, that suggested that the workers that were there were in fact workers, and they weren't flexible workers, and they needed to be given the adequate amount of protection and rights that workers enjoy," she added.
Rebecca Long-Bailey says she doesn't use Uber because she thinks it is "not morally acceptable" #r4today pic.twitter.com/NI2NnhBgH8
— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) July 11, 2017
Because British courts ruled that Uber cannot use private contractors as employees, the ride share company must now guarantee their U.K. employees the national minimum wage and paid vacation. Uber has appealed the decision, but Long-Bailey and many others on the left have hailed the ruling as a landmark decision.
The government's new report recommends defining workers in the gig economy as "dependent contractors" in order to grant them employment protections. Expanding labor regulations already has broad support in the Labour Party, but not everyone is as zealous as Long-Bailey.
"I have used Uber myself," Chi Onwurah, Labour's shadow industry minister, told Sky News. "But it's not about the consumers who are using the best apps for them, it is about the employers, and they are employers, and that is what the recent court case by an Uber driver showed."
An Uber spokesperson told BuzzFeed that Uber provides drivers with greater control than other taxi systems.
"Almost all taxi and private hire drivers have been self-employed for decades before our app existed and with Uber they have more control," the spokesperson said. "Drivers are totally free to choose if, when and where they drive with no shifts or minimum hours. In fact the main reason people say they sign up to drive with Uber is so they can be their own boss."