MS: WHAT’S top of your in-tray at the moment?

ZD: I’m getting ready for two big events in February. The first is a parliamentary reception on February 5 to help raise awareness among MPs of the issues facing App Drivers and Couriers Union (ADCU) members, and the second is a day of action in three British cities: London, Birmingham and Bristol, on February 11.

The parliamentary reception is the first we’ve held, so it’s pretty exciting, and we’ll follow it up with regular drop-in meetings for MPs. It’s the culmination of months of work by ADCU’s caseworkers, who have written to every one of our 10,000 members’ local MP or assembly member if they’re based in London, asking them to lobby the platform employers.

The reception will be an opportunity for the union to say thank you to all the MPs who have supported our members in their constituencies who have been in dispute with their employers.

But it’s important we talk to MPs about the new Employment Bill and the commitment to tackle bogus and forced self-employment — which 100 per cent of ADCU members suffer daily. This is widely known by industry regulators and licensing authorities so the implications of the Employment Bill on parcel and fast-food delivery drivers and taxis is huge.

We will be advising MPs on how to construct a solution that offers enhanced terms for our members while recognising them as workers. Our members’ two immediate demands are protection from the current industry policy of instant and arbitrary dismissal and the introduction of paid waiting time between fares.

I’m fitting all this around my day job as a licensed driver. It’s a requirement that everyone on the ADCU executive, including the general secretary, is a working driver or courier, so we can speak to employers as the authentic voice of drivers. So I’m not seeing my family much at the moment!

What are you asking for, in those days of action, on behalf of your members?

We’re campaigning for a cap on the number of licences issued in any licensing authority, to protect our members’ earnings. Uber and Bolt always oppose caps on the basis that the market should decide. But the more licences that are issued, the longer drivers have to be on the road just to make a living.

Some of our members have had to increase their working hours by up to 50 per cent in the last five years. The implications in terms of safety to both drivers and the public are pretty obvious.

We’re also calling for an immediate 10 per cent increase in earnings for all drivers. Not a huge ask, when you factor in that commission rates for drivers have fallen from £1.75 per mile to £1.05 per mile, and that mileage rates haven’t been reviewed for 10 years. Uber and Bolt could easily achieve this via an increase in the 45p per mile rate and a reduction in waiting time.

ADCU recently submitted a pay and security claim to Uber and Bolt, offering to come to the table to achieve a negotiated settlement as an alternative to legal action. The Supreme Court ruling against Uber and Bolt in relation to paid waiting time included a recommendation that in future, matters could be resolved via negotiation and common sense, but we’re still waiting to hear back.

Of course, the licensing authorities have a role to play, by honouring their regulatory responsibilities and ensuring the companies adhere to legal rulings and license conditions, but a lot of them are turning a blind eye.

A key condition of the new Uber licence with TfL was the disclosure of data in relation to the number, frequency and distance of journeys being made, but currently, neither TfL nor the GLA has any of that data because Uber is still refusing to disclose it because it might give information on how their algorithm works.

The English devolution white paper that came out late last year included plans to make all local transport authorities, including strategic authorities, responsible for taxi and private hire vehicle licensing, so they might not be able to turn a blind eye for much longer and again we will be talking to MPs and regional mayors next month on this to seek their help.

What other issues is ADCU campaigning on at the moment?

On top of our bread-and-butter work providing legal support and representation to members who are in dispute with their employers, we’ve got a number of campaigns on the go, related to the misuse of new technologies by the app-based companies.

We’ve started a petition to shut down Uber’s Trip Radar function, which encourages drivers to engage with their phones while they’re driving, increasing the risk of road accidents. There’s also no clarity or policy from Uber in relation to where liability lies in the event of an accident, putting our members at risk of litigation.

As well as the safety concerns, Trip Rader is a version of “surge pricing” impacting our members’ financial wellbeing and undermining their autonomy. It forces drivers to take jobs without knowing if they’re going to be financially viable or not, so they can end up accepting jobs that are miles away for a relatively low fare or being sent to areas where demand is low.

Another big problem for our drivers is instant dismissals, something the majority of the public is largely unaware of.

When a passenger makes a complaint against a driver, the driver is often dismissed as a first resort, without recourse to representation or a fair hearing, creating a climate of constant fear and stress for our members. ADCU is pushing for standard Acas guidelines to apply to dismissals, with the right to representation to the platform companies before action is taken.

We also believe that Uber is knowingly using automated facial recognition systems known to have a high error rate when used with people of colour, and has relied on results from these systems to drive some of our members out of their jobs.

Many of our members are first or second-generation migrants, from the broad Asian subcontinent and Middle Eastern states. They’re disproportionately and unfairly at risk from this technology, and we currently have a number of active claims in against Uber for harassment and dismissal related to race, victimisation and indirect race discrimination as a result of failed facial recognition checks.

You can sign the petition against Trip Radar and find out more about the union at www.adcu.org.uk.