A court in Amsterdam ruled Monday that Uber drivers fall under the Dutch taxi drivers' collective labor agreement – meaning they are entitled to the same employment benefits as taxi drivers. Uber said it would appeal the ruling.
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The Amsterdam civil court said in a statement that three judges ruled that the legal relationship between Uber and its drivers "conforms to all the characteristics of an employment contract."
The Dutch workers' organization that brought the case called the decision a major victory for Uber drivers.
"This verdict shows what we have been saying for years: Uber is an employer and the drivers are employees, so Uber has to abide by the taxi traffic collective labor agreement," Zakaria Boufangacha, vice-chair of the Federation of Dutch Unions, said in a statement.
Uber, which has 4,000 drivers in Amsterdam, decried the ruling as a blow to the gig economy model.
"We are disappointed with this decision because we know that the overwhelming majority of drivers wish to remain independent," said Maurits Schönfeld, Uber's General Manager Northern Europe.
