The European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs held a hearing on “Uber files, lobbying and workers’ rights” today. Uber was represented by Zuzana Púčiková, Director of EU Public Policy. Her opening statement can be found below.

Opening statement

Honourable Chair, Honourable Members of the European Parliament, Dear fellow panellists.

Thank you for inviting us to this important hearing.

My name is Zuzana Pucikova and I manage Uber’s relations with EU institutions.

I joined the company in April 2019 because I believed in Uber’s vision – to find better ways to move people and things. With less cars. With more and better jobs.

• This is also what my team of three believes in. None of us owns a car, we get around with shared mobility. And all of us are foodies that love to discover more local options.
• And that’s exactly what the Uber app offers. All while creating extra earning opportunities for drivers, couriers and restaurants – who earned nearly €13 billion through our platform last year.

My role is about engaging with EU policy-makers on topics that impact us. This engagement is always transparent, constructive and legitimate.

That’s why I am in front of you today. Everyone knows that Uber made mistakes in its early days – which were widely reported even before the Uber Files and which we don’t defend. But everyone also knows that Uber has changed since Dara Khosrowshahi took over as our CEO in late 2017.

My experience at Uber

And this is the Uber I got to know over the past three and a half years.

• The Uber I know is built on strong company values that guide everything we do.
  • The past values were about growth at all cost.
  • Today, our values are about doing the right thing, like supporting Ukrainian refugees with free trips and emergency assistance. Or building with heart – especially towards those who choose to earn through our platform.
• The Uber I know has robust Ethics & Compliance policies that all employees and external advisors must comply with.
• The Uber I know is seriously committed to inclusion – in contrast to its previous ‘macho’ culture which would never have put two women at the head of its EMEA businesses, as is the case today.
  • And which would probably not hire a heavily pregnant woman, especially if she cancelled her job interview to go into labour, as I did.
• The Uber I know moved from a focus on confrontation to one of collaboration.
• Unlike in the past, today we partner with taxis and public transport – both of which you can find in our Brussels app.
• We also engage extensively with civil society:
  • This includes entering into agreements with trade unions at a global and local level, including in Belgium last week.
  • This includes women NGOs who shaped our European commitment to support women drivers which we backed with €1 million in funding.
  • And this includes partnering with green NGOs like Transport & Environment, who 3 years ago rightly pushed us to ‘put our skin in the game’ on electro-mobility.
• And we did. Because the Uber I know listens and acts. We worked hard for over a year and in 2020 pledged to become a zero-emission platform in Europe within a decade. We also put €820 million on the table to help drivers electrify – so for example in France, thanks to our support, on average drivers can save up to €4,500 when buying a new electric car.

Improving working conditions for drivers and couriers

We think this is not only the right thing to do but also the smart thing to do. Because we can only succeed if the drivers and the couriers using our platform succeed. So it is in our interest to give them what they keep telling us they want:

• And that’s flexibility – to work when, where and how long they want
• And it’s protections – like the programme we’ve been offering in Europe free-of-charge since 2018 through AXA and now also with Allianz.
  • It includes sickness and injury cover as well as disability or paternity and maternity payments.
• And drivers and couriers really used it. Over 4 years, the policy has paid out over €40 million.

Platform Work Directive

This approach – protected flexible work with benefits – is also what we’ve openly advocated for around the EU Platform Work Directive.

Like any responsible company that cares about its users and that respects the European Union, we openly engage with EU policy-makers.

We welcomed the goals of the proposal but we – and other platforms – also cautioned against an approach that would reclassify platform workers as employees.

• Because this is what they keep telling us they don’t want.
• And because we saw elsewhere that this approach harms their earnings.

Closing remarks

To conclude – let me reemphasize that we acknowledge and do not defend the past behaviour of our prior management. But our current leadership has been held to account for our past mistakes and committed to change. And I am proud to be part of Uber’s transformation into the responsible corporate citizen that we are today.

Thank you for listening and I look forward to your questions.