“It must be up to platforms like Uber to demonstrate that they employ real freelancers”

Uber, the bastards and my ovariesit was already the name of a “political spectacle” that Danielle Simonnet gave in a Parisian theater in 2016. The deputy of the 15^e Paris constituency (Ecologist and social group) has never abandoned the subject since. It was she who initiated and led the National Assembly’s commission of inquiry into the “Uber Files”, named after a series of articles published by The World and its partners from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in July 2022. Its report, published in the summer of 2023, denounced the “total cynicism” of Uber and criticized Emmanuel Macron, who maneuvered behind the scenes for the platform when he was Minister of the Economy.

The MP, excluded from La France insoumise last June during a “purge” of “rebellious” elected officials, published, Thursday October 9, Facing Uber. Investigation into a state scandal (Fayard). A book in which she denounces the threat that the increase in the number of platform workers poses to our social standards. Hence the urgency, according to her, to transpose into French law the European directive on platform work adopted in the spring.

In your book, you describe the relations between Uber and Emmanuel Macron as a “state scandal”. But he believes that he played his role as Minister of the Economy, then as President, by meeting foreign business leaders. Once he assumes it, what is the problem?

This story is not at all that of a politician who meets companies that create jobs. Already, it was not at all transparent at the time. Above all, at the time of these meetings, from 2014 to 2016, Uber was an outlaw platform from every point of view: the labor code was flouted, competition rules as well, not to mention taxation. This application is not a great invention in itself, but they were very good at mocking the rule of law and theorizing the passage by force. However, the Minister of the Economy, without the knowledge of his government, has built a whole common communication strategy with the American multinational, with a view to a deal. Documents from the “Uber Files” show this. Emmanuel Macron has worked to modify the regulations to adapt them to this application. That’s what’s scandalous.

The average income of an Uber Eats delivery person who accepts all trips was 10.10 euros gross per hour in 2023, according to a study published at the beginning of October by the Ministry of the Economy. This is less than the minimum wage, if we take contributions into account. Is that also Uberization?

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