The European ride-sharing company Bolt, a competitor of Uber, has started offering holiday entitlement and a minimum wage guarantee to UK drivers. These measures, which came into effect on August 1st, are in addition to a recently introduced occupational pension scheme. Despite these changes, Bolt continues to maintain that the drivers are independent contractors.
The Estonian company currently preparing for an IPO competes for British drivers who distribute their work across various platforms such as Uber.
Companies in the gig economy are increasingly under pressure to improve pay and working conditions for drivers and couriers following strikes on both sides of the Atlantic earlier this year. They are also grappling with a series of legal challenges regarding the employment status of their workers. For instance, the California Supreme Court ruled last week that app-based ride services like Uber and Lyft may continue to classify their drivers as independent contractors.
Bolt CEO and founder Markus Villig stated in May that the company is working to be "IPO-ready". A financing round at the beginning of 2022 valued Bolt at 7.4 billion euros.
The new offer for British drivers comes a few weeks before a hearing at the labor court in London. This stems from lawsuits filed by the GMB union in 2022. The law firm Leigh Day is also involved in the case and represents more than 10,000 Bolt drivers on a contingency basis.
The heading translates to:
"When asked why the company grants drivers the same rights as employees but continues to refer to them as self-employed, Bolt explained that the new additions are intended to 'increase the drivers' earnings and provide additional financial security.' Bolt is introducing weekly surcharges to ensure that drivers earn at least the minimum wage for completed trips and is making contributions to a vacation account. This follows the introduction of an optional pension system in May."
Andy Prendergast, National Secretary of the GMB, described Bolt's new offer as a "cynical, last-ditch attempt to shirk their responsibility". The GMB will continue to push for drivers to have the right to an hourly minimum wage and holiday entitlement, rather than leaving this at Bolt's discretion. Should the court decide that the drivers are employees, they could also be entitled to retroactive holiday pay.
The GMB and Leigh Day will likely argue that Bolt's relationship with the drivers essentially resembles that of Uber. Bolt, on the other hand, emphasizes that it offers drivers the possibility to register multiple people on the same account and negotiate their own terms. This would give self-employed drivers the opportunity to act as "entrepreneurs.
Bolt was founded to empower entrepreneurs, and our focus remains on helping drivers operate independently," the company stated. However, the GMB emphasized that in practice, very few drivers take advantage of this option.
Prendergast said that despite expectations that the Uber ruling would lead to industry-wide changes, this has so far not happened to the hoped-for extent. Moreover, delays in the labor courts have resulted in it taking two years for the case to come to trial. "The real concern is the length of time it takes to achieve justice," he added.
