I am very glad that Uber was deemed illegal in Germany from the get go. All these gig-economy startups are running the same scam: Skip on employer costs such as taxes, health insurance and social security payments by not officially employing people put solely "brokering a deal between two individuals". In Germany, every employee gets paid sick leave. Uber/Foodora/Flink? Not so much. I'll gladly pay a bit extra for an actual cab driver that is properly insured and employed :)
I used to think the exact same, however have a more mixed attitude towards gig economy nowadays.
- I have talked to many workers who are die-hard fans of their jobs. They highly appreciated the easy non-bureaucratic way of earning as much money as they wanted to.
- Uber et all are also about disrupting antiquated oligopolies of old businesses. Esp in Germany you see a lot of gatekeeper business models who are managing their comfort zone lobbying for bureaucracy in their favor. Those are often not in favor of workers or customers.
With those services in Germany, all Uber, Bolt and others are doing are connecting you to a driver at a German company, a driver who is paid a living wage and has all of those benefits AFAIK. Those services notify you of this arrangement with every booking.
