Uber Agrees to Raise Minimum Wage for French Drivers

Uber and other ride-hailing companies have agreed to give their French drivers a raise.

Those workers will now be eligible for 9 euros ($9.85) per trip — up from 7.65 euros ($8.38) — and will be guaranteed an income of at least 30 euros ($32.88) per hour and 1 euro ($1.10) per kilometer, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday (Dec. 20).

That report noted that there hadn’t previously been a minimum threshold on hourly income. The news follows a deal earlier this month that would potentially reclassify millions of ride-hailing and food-delivery app workers as employees.

According to Bloomberg, the agreement in France upholds the self-employment model companies like Uber rely on, while still offering concessions to workers fighting for better conditions. The ruling also applies to companies such as Bolt and FreeNow.

The news comes a little less than two months after Uber and fellow ride-hailing company Lyft agreed to pay a combined settlement of $328 million after a years-long probe into their practices by the New York state attorney general.

As PYMNTS reported, the prosecutor’s investigations determined that the companies withheld pay from drivers, dedicating fees and sales taxes that should have been paid by riders. In addition, Uber and Lyft prevented employees from enjoying benefits such as sick leave that are available under New York labor laws.

“For years, Uber and Lyft systematically cheated their drivers out of hundreds of millions of dollars in pay and benefits while they worked long hours in challenging conditions,” New York State Attorney General Letitia James said in a news release.

“My office will continue to make sure that companies operating in the so-called ‘gig economy’ do not deprive workers of their rights or undermine the laws meant to protect them,” James added.

Meanwhile, PYMNTS recently examined Uber through the lens of a recent rise in engagement among consumers in digital travel activities.

The latest edition of the “How The World Does Digital” report by PYMNTS Intelligence found a year-over-year (YoY) increase of almost 10% in consumer engagement in this sector, suggesting a marked shift towards using digital platforms and services for planning, booking and managing travel.

“Among the digital travel activities, the largest increase of 27% was observed in daily engagement with local transport apps, which consumers are increasingly tapping to navigate their daily commute and travel needs,” PYMNTS wrote last week.

That report noted that Uber’s latest earnings show this trend in play. That company’s core UberX business rose 20% YoY as it launched services like Reserve for consumers willing to pay more for higher reliability, and UberX Share for consumers who are willing to share rides with another passenger for a reduced fare.

The digital ride-hailing giant further noted a 21% surge in gross bookings to over $35 billion, with gross bookings for rides gaining 31%.

Speaking about the company’s core mobility business, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that “the quarter was strong across the board, in every single geography, pretty much in every single product,” buoyed by sturdy travel trends over the summer.