28/10/2016 World Business Report

Are Uber drivers being taken for a ride?

A UK court is set to rule on demands for paid leave and pensions

in a major test case for the 'gig economy'

Plus booming ad sales spell out big profits for Google owner Alphabet.

We start here in London where a court is due to rule

We are going to head to Asia to also talk about their budget.

We start here in London where a court is due to rule

on what's being called the 'employment case of the year'.

Taxi hailing app Uber is being sued by 19 of its drivers demanding

the right to holiday and sick pay and a pension.

It could have major implications for the wider 'gig economy' -

where companies use apps to employ people on a freelance basis,

for everything from deliveries to babysitting.

For Uber there is a huge amount at stake.

In just six years it has ballooned from a tiny start up to a company

spanning 70 countries and valued at $66 billion.

Uber has always maintained that its drivers are self-employed -

they get to work as little or often as they wish

but without the benefits of staff employees.

However the plaintiffs argue they are employed by the company

so it owes them paid leave and a pension.

If the judge agrees, tens of thousands of other UK Uber

drivers could claim the same benefits.

That could push up the cost of booking an Uber ride

Uber is fighting similar challenges around the world.

In August, a US judge rejected $100m deal between 385,000 drivers

and Uber, saying that the settlement was not fair,

But not everyone who drives for Uber is unhappy with the way it operates.

I am not self employed. The definition is that I create the

business. I follow the app and it gets me access to the job and I do

not get paid, Uber get paid and they control all these things. I was

always a creative project. I run a tax start up, we are very busy and

sometimes I cannot drive for days. Sometimes I can drive a week and

make some cash. All the benefits, they are enjoying it and I left all

alone to fulfil the responsibility. With responsibility there comes a

prize, holiday pay, pension. I do want to be owned by a company. -- do

not want to be owned by a company. I do not want their permission. I just

cannot do that. Some very different views.

Alex Mizzi is an employment lawyer at London law firm Howard Kennedy.

This is clearly a test case for the UK when it comes to the gig economy.

What are the ramifications for all companies doing things like this?

They are all very different companies. It is certainly not just

technology businesses that are going to be at sector by this. There are

businesses that use self-employed Labour in a way which does not fit

with the traditional image of self-employment. They are people

working for less full-time and this will tell us whether it is legally

and commercially viable. Theresa May, the Prime Minister in the UK,

wants to review employment legislation in particular in regard

to self-employment because so many people classified themselves as

self-employed. Does that suggest there is a problem? There is public

concern. Nine out of ten new jobs created in the last few months has

been self-employed. A lot of those people are not people you would

think that has entrepreneurs but people stuck in insecure work. May

work for many people but for some it does not. There is a concern that

this is a model to circumvent protection for workers. We have seen

a real fall in trade union membership in the UK, who is left

out to protect workers rights in this country? The GMB backing this

case and they see it an opportunity to reach trade union protection to

the class of people who traditionally have not had it out

there is massive public interest and focus on the position of

self-employed workers and insecure workers. There is the Parliamentary

Select Committee enquiry announced the other day, HMRC are cracking

down on it so a real likelihood of some further regulation in this

area. We will look to it with interest.

We are also looking at Alphabet - the company behind search giant

Its shares have been on the rise in after hours trade after a 27%

It made more than $5 dollars in the three months to September.

It's mostly down to booming advertising sales.

But Alphabet has also been spending a fortune gambling on new technology

So are they paying off?Here's the BBC's Tech reporter

Google's success in this quarter has been rubbed down to mobile

advertising. In directions with mobile action has gone up by 33%

which is quite something given that Google's Dikili -- Achilles' heel.

That certainly seems to be unfounded. Massive increases in

people interactive with mobile adds. Investors will not be concerned

because they want engagement up on mobile and in that regard Google is

soaring. Also of interest Alphabet from's earnings are what they call

Other Bets, slightly more outlandish experimental ideas - things like

Firebird efforts to install superfast broadband in cities all

across the US. Other Bets Have made 97 billion dollars. An increase that

will please investors. They are putting Alphabet under a lot of

pressure to finally get them to make some money. Costs are also going

down and investors will want to be patient because while Google's core

business is search advertising, who knows which other of these other

bets could be there big bonus in the future.

From the world's biggest search engine to its Chinese rival -

Things aren't going quite so well there -

it has recorded its first ever fall in revenue in the three months

And it's predicting another decline next quarter.

A question for Mariko Oi who is following this for us

What is happening to this company? People would think this is a really

strong business indeed, Victoria, and it did come in at $2.7 billion

for the three months so it is not bad at all but a guess at the

company became too good to impress shares. The reason for this is

because of a government crackdown on the company's health-care

advertising business and that followed after the death of us who

did who had terminal cancer who tried experimental cancer treatment

which came at the top of his Baidu search. Before he died he criticised

Baidu. Regulators slapped some curbs on the business and it is now

starting to affect revenue. Very interesting how does one event can

affect the fortunes of a major company.

Belgium's regions have finally agreed to a free trade deal

with Canada - after weeks of uncertainty.

All 28 EU Governments backed signing the Comprehensive Economic

and Trade Agreement or CETA - but up until now Belgium's central

government has been prevented from signing because of objections

led by the French-speaking Wallonia region.

Supporters say CETA will boost the EU economy by $13 billion a year

Critics though say it gives too much power to multinational firms

Markets in Asia were trading cautiously on Friday

after an overnight jump in sovereign bond yields resulted in a choppy

The US dollar is back on the rise again, strengthening against various

currencies on Thursday amid rising expectations

that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year.

Plenty more coming up later. See you soon.