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| - Riders for the food delivery company Deliveroo lost a bid to join a union in Britain on Thursday as the UK Court of Appeal ruled that they are self-employed. The court unanimously dismissed an appeal by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which had sought to represent the drivers from north London on issues of pay, working hours and holiday. The ruling comes as the app-driven meals delivery company staves off criticism over its treatment of its riders, which has damaged its reputation with institutional investors and its share price. Lord Justice Underhill dismissed the union's application for collective bargaining rights saying the drivers were "genuinely, not under an obligation to provide their services personally and have a virtually unlimited right of substitution". He added as the riders were not employed by Deliveroo, they did not "fall within the scope of the trade union freedom right". Both the Central Arbitration Committee, a government body which oversees labour laws, and the High Court had previously found the riders were self-employed. Deliveroo welcomed the ruling in a statement and said it would continue to offer riders flexible work. "Deliveroo will continue to campaign for companies like ours to be able to offer the full flexibility of self employment along with greater benefits and more security," the company said. Shares in the company, which started trading on the London Stock Exchange in March jumped by 5.7 percent on the back of the ruling. IWGB president Alex Marshall hit out at the decision and said Deliveroo's talk of "being your own boss" amounted to the "flexibility of choosing when to make poverty wages and work in unsafe conditions". Saying that the union would "now consider our legal position" he added it would "continue to grow in numbers and fight on the streets until Deliveroo give these key worker heroes the pay". Both ahead of Deliveroo's stock market float and after, riders in Britain, Australia and France have staged small-scale protests and strikes over working conditions. In contrast, the US ride-hailing giant Uber announced in May an agreement with a British trade union to represent its 70,000 drivers in the UK, after a court ruling granted them workers' rights. csp/jwp/lth
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