GFTU BGCM Minutes 2017

‘gig’ economy by an Oxford professor. I have the information back in the

bedroom but I forgot to bring it up here. One of the key points he made which I

think is really interesting about the ‘gig’ economy is trying to level the playing

field between your Uber driver and your black taxi driver and one of the points

he made is that at this point Uber owns your rating, so if you have got five star

ratings, Uber controls that, you do not get to take it. If you want to leave and

go to a different service you cannot bring that along, which means that your

skill base is not being able to be transferrable. There is research being done.

We do need to tap in. We have to make it a level playing field and one of the

ways is that the way these ‘gig’ economy things work is quite often with that

rating system, but members need to be able to take that with them when they

leave and choose another employer that will give them better conditions. That

is all. Thank you. (Applause)

BRO CARL PARKER (GMB): I do not think, conference, you need GMB or anyone

else to tell you about the exploitation that takes place within the ‘gig’ economy

and I want to just give you a few examples. I think it may have been John, the

photographer, that I was chatting to yesterday or somebody else who clearly is

a ‘gig’ economy worker saying, “I hate the term ‘gig’ economy, because ‘gig’

economy suggests that going to a gig is about joy and enjoyment and having a

great time”. Was it you, John?

JOHN HARRIS: Yes, it was.

BRO CARL PARKER (GMB): We know that in many instances the ‘gig’ economy is

far from joyous and far from something that people have a great time being

involved in, so we have got to be really careful about saying that we want to

support employers in being able to exploit our members and our potential

members. We just need to think that ‘gig’ economy does not mean joy.

Let’s just give some examples. Our black cab drivers who are members of

GMB, they have to do the knowledge, they have to have wheelchair accessible

vehicles, they have all sorts of barriers that make it difficult for them to get into

work, but they get into work and expect to earn a living that they can support

their family on. Uber come along with none of those requirements and

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