Uber drivers file EU class action over 'soulless' AI pay

Roughly 240,000 Uber drivers across the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Romania filed a collective claim at Amsterdam District Court on September 2, alleging that the algorithm which sets their pay and hands out jobs is unlawful under GDPR. The Guardian reported that the European Trade Union Confederation is calling it the first collective legal move of its kind.

The drivers' complaint is not abstract. Mohammed Shirwa, a 41-year-old driver in Rotterdam, told the paper: "It is like someone watching you all the time and knowing about your weakness – the boss is the algorithm." Kola Oba, 48, from Tottenham in north London, called the system "soulless" and said: "It's scary – they have all my information and they are using it against my own wellbeing."

Drivers say the same trip is being offered to different people at different rates, and that fares drop on return legs after a long outbound run because the model has calculated they will not want to drive home empty. The suit estimates UK drivers have lost an average of £5,337 a year since the pricing changes took effect. Worker Info Exchange, which organised the case, is led by James Farrar, the former driver who won the 2021 UK Supreme Court ruling classifying Uber drivers as workers. "Uber's dynamic pay algorithms have squeezed driver pay for years now but the intrusive way Uber uses technology to monitor drivers is an affront to their dignity," he said. Two researchers we follow in the platform-labour space were circulating the story within hours.

The legal spine here is data protection, not employment law. Anton Ekker, the Dutch lawyer running the case, put it flat: "A computer algorithm should not independently make decisions that strip individuals of their livelihood." The filing follows an €825m fine imposed on Uber by the Dutch data protection authority in August over unlawful transfers of driver data to the United States.

Uber said it "categorically reject[s] the allegations" and that drivers "see their earnings and where a trip is going before they decide whether to accept it."