Dynamic pay on platforms such as Uber should be banned, says TUC

The practice of using “dynamic pricing” to set pay on gig economy platforms including Uber should be banned because it leaves workers at the mercy of shadowy algorithms with no certainty over their earnings, trade union leaders have urged. In a report exposing the human cost of the gig economy practice, the Trades Union Congress said pay was becoming decoupled from time, skill or effort. Instead, work had become a speculative practice with the rewards determined by an algorithmic process with little transparency. Under dynamic pricing, computer-driven algorithms set variable prices on a gig economy platform for customers and rates of commission for workers to match real-time supply and demand in a market. However, union leaders say the practice replaces fixed rates or transparent tariffs with opaque, constantly shifting pricing mechanisms, where the data used to determine the rewards and decision-making process are largely obscured. Having initially taken a fixed 20% cut of the UK fares charged, which subsequently rose to 25%, Uber introduced dynamic pricing in 2023, an algorithm that variably sets pay for drivers and fares for passengers. Publishing the testimonies of almost a dozen workers, the TUC found workers describing themselves as “gambling”, “leaving it to fate,” or “waiting for the jackpot,” because pay felt like the outcome of chance rather than work. …