Helio Santos at the meeting: ‘We want driver to be conscious of their rights’

UBER drivers have warned that they cannot “trust” the ride company as they prepare for a Valentine’s Day “log off”.

Speaking at Jeremy Corbyn’s third People’s Forum, gig economy workers and trade unionists told of ongoing challenges regarding exploitation in the borough and advocated for better education surrounding employment rights.

Helio Santos has been driving for Uber for more than three years and has completed more than 13,000 trips.

He said: “As a driver, I am angry with how Uber is treating us, but I have deeper anger and frustration against government officials. They are the ones allowing Uber to exploit us massively”.

Mr Santos is just one of hundreds of drivers preparing to “log off” apps including Uber, Bolt, and Freenow next Friday in an effort to pressure the companies into listening to their concerns over pay and working conditions.

Drivers are asking for fair pay for time and distance including waiting times and multi stops, transparency about Uber’s algorithm, and protection from false allegations and unfair de-activations.

Mr Santos said: “We want drivers to be conscious of their conditions and their rights, and the main power they have is to log off. What helps Uber at the moment is the fact that drivers are disunited. If we can come together and completely log off, we will be very successful.”

He added: “We need to sit down and establish a transparent communication between drivers, app firms, and government.”

Meanwhile, Bob Jeffery, an academic who co-authored a report into work-based harms in Islington, warned that gig economy workers were not the only ones vulnerable to exploitation.

He said: “The majority of insecure jobs are going to be in retail, in hospitality, in social care, and in a lot of low-paid administration, cleaning, domestic, security-type roles.

“We can’t exclude these. Some of the security guards and cleaners are working in offices in high profile companies based in Islington.

“A lot of high street chains. There are issues with big companies because the problem is a lack of bargaining power. Many people are not in a union so they don’t have anyone to provide a collective voice.”

Dr Jeffery called for better education about workers’ rights.

“The key findings are that you can’t assert an employment right if you don’t know you have one,” he said.

“We need educated and empowered workers on the ground to be able to hold their employers to account.”

Uber had not responded to a request for comment by the time we went to press.