優步司機是不是屬於僱員範疇
Love it or hate it, the one aspect of the gig economy that most people agree on is its newness.
不管喜歡還是厭惡，有關零工經濟，大多數人都認同一點：這是一個新生事物。
No discussion about the future of work is complete without someone contrasting the old world of traditional employee jobs with the new world of workers without employers, piecing an income together from a series of gigs or tasks.
如果沒有人比較一下傳統僱員的舊世界和沒有僱主、依靠一系列零工或者任務獲得零碎收入的勞動者的新世界，任何關於工作的未來的討論都是不全面的。
Perhaps some copywriting in the so-called human cloud in the morning; a few hours making jewellery to sell on Etsy in the afternoon; a spot of Uber driving in the evening.
一個新勞動者的零工可能是這樣安排的：在早上通過所謂的人才雲進行一些文案撰寫；在下午花幾個小時製作首飾並在Etsy上售賣；在晚上當一會兒優步(Uber)司機。
We forget history.
我們忘記了歷史。
Go back to the 18th century and you would find a place like London was one big gig economy.
回到18世紀，你會發現像倫敦這樣的地方就存在大規模的零工經濟。
Few people had jobs as we know them now; most were hired intermittently and were paid by the piece or task.
當時很少有人擁有我們今天所知的工作；大多數人時斷時續地被僱傭，按件或者按任務得到報酬。
There was an eclectic mix of payment arrangements depending on the nature of the work.
根據工作性質的不同，支付報酬的方式也各式各樣。
The carpenters who maintained the timber starlings on London Bridge were paid per tide, according to Judy Stephenson, an economic historian.
比如，根據經濟史學家朱迪.斯蒂芬森(Judy Stephenson)的說法，負責維護倫敦橋橋墩木質分水樁的木匠按潮汐領取報酬。
Even workers in prestigious institutions such as Westminster Abbey had to submit invoices for their services.
哪怕是爲像西敏寺這樣的著名機構工作的工人，也必須提交勞務費用清單。
The abbey’s scullion, the most menial worker in the kitchen, submitted a bill in 1703 for sweeping the chimney and weeding the yard.
一位大教堂的廚房幫工（廚房裏地位最低微的工人）在1703年提交了一份勞務賬單，內容是打掃煙囪和給庭院除草。
She waited six months to be paid.
她等待了6個月纔拿到報酬。
Are we looping back on ourselves? We are certainly not there yet.
那麼，我們是否倒退到了過去？當然還沒到那個地步。
According to estimates of the size of the gig economy by the McKinsey Global Institute, 70 to 80 per cent of people in the US and Europe have nothing to do with it.
根據麥肯錫全球研究所(McKinsey Global Institute)估計的零工經濟規模，美國和歐洲70%到80%的人都沒有涉足零工經濟。
What is more, 70 per cent of the people working independently are doing it because they like it.
此外，在獨立工作的人當中，70%的人是因爲喜歡才選擇這種工作方式。
Still, that leaves a substantial 30 per cent who are gigging as a last resort.
然而，這意味着當中還有30%的人把打零工當做最後的出路。
It is this group that policymakers, including UK prime minister Theresa May, are most worried about.
政策制定者們，包括英國首相特里薩.梅(Theresa May)，最擔憂的也是這個羣體。
She has ordered a review into workers’ rights to make sure those in the gig economy benefit from flexibility and innovation and do not fall through the cracks into an 18th-century world.
她已指示對勞動者權利進行調查，以確保這些處於零工經濟中的人受益於靈活性和創新性，同時不會從裂縫中掉入18世紀的零工經濟世界。
The courts may pre-empt her.
法院或許會在梅之前採取行動。
This week, a panel of three men will meet in London to decide the outcome of an employment tribunal case between Uber and the GMB union.
一個由3名法官組成的審判小組正在審理優步和GMB工會之間的一起勞動仲裁案件。
The GMB alleges that Uber’s 30,000 London drivers are not independent contractors but workers owed the minimum wage, sick pay and holiday pay.
GMB稱，倫敦的3萬名優步司機不是獨立承包人，而是理應享受最低工資、病假工資和假日薪水等福利的員工。
It is a genuine grey area.
這是一個真正的灰色地帶。
In some ways, Uber’s drivers do seem to work for themselves.
在某些方面，優步司機看起來的確是在爲自己工作。
They have freedom to decide whether to log on to the app and do some work.
他們可以決定是否要登錄優步app接單工作。
But in other ways, Uber exerts a lot of control.
但在另外一些方面，優步施加了很多控制。
It does not tell the drivers where the customers want to go until they pick them up.
優步不會在司機接到乘客之前告訴他們乘客的目的地。
It sets the fee.
優步設定了車費。
And it can deactivate drivers whose customer ratings drop too low (though Uber insists it does this only rarely).
而且優步可以在司機的客戶評分降至過低的時候停用司機（儘管優步堅稱這種情況非常少）。
If the tribunal panel finds for the GMB, it could broaden the legal definition of who counts as a worker in the UK — emboldening similar claimants in other countries, while making many in Britain’s gig economy eligible for more rights and protections.
如果審判小組做出有利於GMB的判決，這可能擴大英國有關員工的法律定義——這會讓其他國家的類似原告更有信心，同時讓許多身處英國零工經濟中的人有資格獲得更多權利和保護。
Yet Uber insists most of its drivers do not want this.
然而，優步堅稱大多數優步司機不想要這樣。
It has polled 1,000 of them and found 76 per cent would rather give up these rights to maintain their flexibility to work when they want, while 16 per cent would prefer the opposite deal.
優步對1000名優步司機進行了調查，發現76%的人寧可放棄這些權利，以獲得在想工作的時候工作的靈活性，而16%的人則相反。
One answer could be for gig economy companies to let workers choose between arrangements: one where they exert control over how the person works in exchange for some protection, and the other where the person has more freedom but shoulders more risk.
一個解決方法是，零工經濟企業可以讓工人在不同的安排之間進行選擇：一種是個人接受企業對個人的工作方式施加的控制，從而換取一些保護；另一種是個人擁有更多自由，但也承擔更多風險。
A hybrid workforce should still be nimble enough to meet consumer demands.
混合兩種安排的勞動者應該依然會足夠靈活，能夠滿足消費者的需求。
The key is to stop companies from having the power of an employer but none of the responsibility.
關鍵是阻止一種情況出現：企業擁有僱主的權力，卻絲毫不承擔僱主的責任。
The waters are muddy but judges and policymakers are right to wade in.
現在這個領域還是一汪渾水，但法官和政策制定者選擇涉入是正確的。
Better that than to sleepwalk into a future of work that looks a lot like the past.
這比迷迷糊糊地踏入看起來和過去很像的工作的未來要好。
