The great Uber fairness fallacy: as a driver, how do you bargain with an app?

Businesses have been shedding their identity as employers for at least 30 years, profiting from the work performed by 'independent contractors' without the cost, risk or aggravation of actually dealing with employees

Whining about cab drivers transcends national boundaries. From New York to Sydney, the complaints are indistinguishable. Sitting among 450 of the world's leading labour law scholars at the University of Amsterdam in June, I met a young Belgian scholar who confided that he only used Uber because it provided a superior service. "I never use Belgian cab drivers," he said. "They are fucking pigs."

As I journeyed on the fast train from Paris to Amsterdam that week, French newspapers were running hard on protest action and a subsequent strike by French taxi drivers against Uber. Violent attacks on Uber drivers and clients had prompted a public outcry.