“It wasn’t just about Uber, it was about the gig economy,” Rix said. “It’s a bogus, false model of employment, and it’s wrong and people are being exploited.”
The decision nevertheless opens the way for additional claims — and not just from Uber drivers. Those making deliveries for companies like Amazon.com Inc., which uses third-party services that employ freelance workers, as well as other, smaller players, now have a clearer path for challenging the terms of working for their platforms, said Mick Rix, a national officer for the GMB union. The GMB, which has more than 620,000 members, will use the decision to take on other tech platforms, he said.