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A United Nations organization for gender equality and empowerment of women said it is not interested in collaborating with online taxi service Uber. Uber said last week that it would partner with U.N. Women to create one million jobs for women as Uber drivers by 2020.
“U.N. Women will not accept an offer to collaborate in job creation with Uber,” Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said in a YouTube video uploaded by trade union federation Public Services International on Wednesday. The reversal came just a few days after the women’s group received a letter from a number of union groups blasting the partnership.
“By classifying drivers as ‘independent contractors,’ Uber denies them basic protections, from minimum wage pay to health care and other benefits on the job,” the groups said. “Women already make up a high proportion of the precarious workforce, and increasing informal, piecemeal work contributes significantly to women’s economic dis-empowerment and marginalization across the globe.”
Uber was not immediately available to comment.
Update: In a statement, Uber said it was “proud to sponsor the U.N. Women event last week, and we share their vision of accelerating economic opportunity for women globally.” The company said it will be “seeking advice from U.N. Women and groups around the world on the best way to achieve the important goal of economic equality and opportunity for women.”
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
