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Tuesday May 27th, 2025

For Immediate Release

For more information email board@iaatw.org

Landmark Statement by the Dutch Government Recommends Uber Address Issues with Wages, Deactivation Practices, and Engagement with Unions

IAATW encourages the ILC to use the
NCP’s recommendations in designing new standards

The Dutch National Contact Point (NCP) for Responsible Business Conduct has issued its final statement on a groundbreaking complaint filed by the International Alliance of App-Based Transport Workers (IAATW) against Uber Technologies, Inc., under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Although mediation between the drivers and Uber did not lead to an agreement, the NCP’s findings highlight serious shortcomings in Uber’s treatment of drivers and call for the company to meet new, far-reaching standards including living wages, deactivation remedies, and meaningful engagement with independent worker representatives and organisations. The decision marks one of the most significant international critiques to date of how platform companies treat their workforce.

The NCP recommendations come just two weeks ahead of the 113th International Labour Conference (ILC), where the rights of platform drivers and the regulation of the platform-based transport industry will be on the agenda. The ILC is the annual gathering of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the UN agency responsible for setting international labour standards. This year, the conference—opening in Geneva in early June—is expected to begin formal discussions on whether to develop a binding international convention on platform work, a process that could shape global standards for the industry.

As a federation of more than twenty driver organisations around the world, IAATW has played a unique role in engaging the OECD and the Dutch NCP in holding a light to many inhumane practices in the platform transport industry. Because of the precarious nature of the work many of the worker organisations are also outside of the established trade union movement, and IAATW has brought the unique and genuine voices of drivers from many continents to the discussion. In addition to being central to these standards suggested by the NCP, IAATW has also issued three reports, one each from its South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asian affiliates that so articulate necessary standards in the same domains as those by the NCP.

Wages and Remuneration

The Dutch NCP has recommended Uber to move towards documented living wage standards in all municipalities and states where it operates. Shaik Salauddin General Secretary of the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers, reacted to the NCP’s final statement positively and said “The South Asia Shadow Report that we prepared for the ILC articulates a similar living wage recommendation and we’re glad to see the Dutch NCP arrive at the same.” Workers from the Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers were parties to the complaint at the Dutch NCP. “We will carry the recommendations to the ILC,” he added.

Omar Parker, general secretary of the Western Cape E-Hailing Association was also  one of the IAATW affiliates that published the Sub-Saharan Consultative Report for the ILC and a party to the IAATW complaint, urged delegates participating in the committee dealing with platform work standards  to “Take up the goal of a living wage in the proposed ILO convention. In our consultative report we have identified the problem of joint and several employment for app-based work and urge the ILC to address this as a way to build better standards for remuneration for platform workers.”

Deactivation

The issue of deactivation was at the heart of the IAATW complaint. The NCP cites Uber’s claims  of partnerships it has built with unions who were not parties to the complaint. And yet, the NCP was not satisfied with Uber’s deactivation practices and called attention to the potential for significant risks related to the use of artificial intelligence. The NCP noted significant shortfalls in Uber’s communication with drivers and recommended that Uber must clearly define what it expects from workers in terms of behaviour, what are the reasons for deactivation, and other rules for staying on the Platform. Further, the NCP recommended Uber’s policies on deactivation and blocking should be transparent for drivers, and drivers should have access to a legitimate grievance mechanism where they can appeal against the deactivation decision.

Taha Syefrill from Asosiasi Driver Online IAATW’s Indonesian affiliate celebrated the NCP’s clarity and said “We have been calling for a Just Cause and Due Process Framework from the platform companies for a long time. Our South East Asia Shadow Report has clearly said that Deactivation through algorithms and other forms of algorithmic controls operates as a menace on the lives of workers and is a violation of the ILO Convention on Forced Labour.” In yet another reaction Damaris Gordon from in Panama, urged the ILC to incorporate  the NCP’s recommendation on deactivation: “The NCP’s recommendations on deactivation, including just-cause, due process, transparent communication and human review should be the bare minimum on the subject of deactivation in the standards being set by the ILC. Uber and other MNEs must not be allowed to hide behind terms like ‘partners’, ‘dashers’ or ‘entrepreneurs’ and deny us justice.”

The NCP’s final statement also concluded that Uber was lacking in its engagement with workers and workers’ representatives and recommended Uber to ensure meaningful stakeholder engagement with independent unions at all relevant levels. Biju Mathew, President of IAATW, said, “We find much that is valuable in the NCP’s final statement. The Dutch Government must carry these standards into the ILC and give it leadership in the construction of a convention.” Addressing the question of why the complaint did not result in mediation Mr. Mathew added, “We filed the complaint in 2021 after spending over eight months recording detailed testimonies from the membership of seven affiliates. Uber did not agree to participate in the mediation process offered by the NCP and instead of participating, it went ahead and signed several secret contracts with unions that no worker has seen or ratified to date.” The Dutch NCP will review the progress or lack thereof made by Uber in a year, including Uber’s engagement with independent workers’ organisations. “Let’s make this year starting with the 2025 ILC and ending with the Dutch NCP’s review and the 2026 ILC, a year of unified labour action. The Dutch NCP’s final statement and IAATW’s grassroots reports can indeed be the basis of a convention that builds a new level of power for workers,”  Mr. Mathew added.

To read the Dutch NCP's final report: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nl-oecd-guidelines_final-statement-iaatw-vs-uber-activity-7330931142608486400-NEWl/

To read IAATW's Shadow Reports regarding App-based Transport Conventions for the ILO, https://www.iaatw.org/ilo-shadow-reports.