The Belgian transport union ABVV-BTB and Uber on Friday announced a groundbreaking partnership to improve working conditions for thousands of drivers using the Uber app in Belgium, making it the first agreement of its kind within the EU.
Few companies have been fought so fiercely by the unions as Uber, to the point that they once described the American multi-national ridesharing platform as "the bearded devil". However, that has not prevented companies such as Uber from becoming established.
Perhaps seeing the huge corporation as an unbeatable foe, the socialist transport union BTB, part of the ABVV, has for now set aside its active protest to Uber and instead reached an agreement to represent drivers in Belgium and start a more conciliatory dialogue.
"Through cooperation, negotiation and social dialogue, we can now focus on our core business: improving working conditions for all drivers," stated Tom Peeters, Deputy of the Federal Secretary for Road Transport and Logistics at ABVV-BTB.
This will involve at least four consultation meetings a year, the BTB will eventually be able to appoint a delegate and the union will have a physical point of contact in Uber's Belgian office, where drivers can go in case of problems.
Disagreements persist
The union and Uber still differ on the status of drivers. However, whilst this significant bone of contention has provoked previous clashes between the two sides, the new agreement explicitly states that "this ideological discussion should no longer stop us from trying to improve their situation," Tom Peeters, deputy federal secretary at BTB, said in a dual interview with Laurent Slits, Uber's top executive in Belgium.
Peeters and Slits speak of a "historic agreement" and a first for the European Union.
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The truce follows a groundbreaking Memorandum of Understanding which was signed in February by Uber and the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), of which the ABVV-BTB is a member, in which they agreed to engage in a social dialogue on drivers' working conditions and couriers.
