Robin wrote:
On 18/08/2016 10:41, Recliner wrote:


a
truly self-employed person who can take a break whenever they like,


I think that's not a valid paraphrase of the Harvard professor or of UK
law. Eg I doubt locum doctors working in A&E under a contract for
services are free to take a break "whenever they like".

I also doubt that self-employed drivers with a "patch" can decide to
take some parcels but not others; or decide half-way through a day's
deliveries that they don't want to do any more work that day.

I'm not defending Uber but I do think much depends on the precise terms
of the Uber contract.

It seems that Uber has made more progress than I thought in solving the
issues with its drivers' contracts. It could be that within a few years
Uber won't have unhappy drivers:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/featur...month-is06r7on

I'm sure that has been their plan from day one. Whether
customers will enjoy riding in cars without drivers in
another matter. As is whether customers will approve of
large numbers of people being effectively made redundant
merely so a high-tech firm can make billions for itself and
its backers.

The public mood has changed a lot in recent years, and I
wouldn't be surprised if customers switched to a cab firm
which provided the app-based facilities combined with cars
with drivers.